by Dori Lavelle
“I need to go to the bathroom,” I say, my stomach tense with nerves. What if he knows what I’m up to?
He refuses to let me go alone. When we reach the door to the bathroom, instead of letting me go inside by myself, he enters first.
He lifts a hand to halt me. “Just a moment.” To my disappointment, he blows out the two candles burning on a small table by the bathtub.
I had planned on using them to set off the fire alarm with the help of the smoke detector on the ceiling. An evacuation would have been the perfect opportunity for me to escape. Now my plan has crashed and burned.
“Perfect.” He takes the candles and steps out of the bathroom, leaving the door wide open.
“You think I’m stupid, don’t you?” He asks with a smirk when I’m done using the toilet. He comes to glance in the toilet bowl just as I’m about to flush.
“I don’t know what you mean.” I walk past him to return to the balcony with a heavy heart. Before I can walk out, he grabs me by the shoulder and pulls me toward him. My blood runs cold when a cool blade meets my throat.
“You think I’m a fool? I saw you looking at the candles. I knew what you were planning.” His tone is as sharp as the weapon that’s about to slice my skin. “The water inside the toilet was also clear. You know what that means? It means you didn’t urinate.”
“I... I’m sorry.” I press my trembling lips together. “I just needed to come inside for a bit. It was chilly outside.”
“Don’t fucking lie to me.” He presses the blade deeper into my skin, but not enough to slice it yet. “I don’t know. Maybe I’ll never be able to trust you. Maybe it’s better to end this game right here and now.”
“Don’t... Please, don’t kill me?” My fingers curl around his wrists as I try to free myself from him, but I’m too weak with fear.
“No. After you have betrayed me so many times, I don’t think there’s any other way out of this. It’s time for you to join your friends.”
Since I have nothing more to lose, I do the only thing I have the power to do. I scream louder than I have ever screamed in my life before, and I pray that someone will come to my rescue before Hunter takes my life.
Chapter 13
HUNTER
I love her too fucking much, but the time has come for me to let her go.
I need to do it. I’ve done it before. I can do it again and get away with it.
But this time is different. I allowed her to get too deep. I should have released her long ago. I was a fool to believe I could change her. I failed myself. I failed my father. But killing her would make the failure easier to swallow. With her death, at least there will be one less ballbreaker in the world. That in itself is a victory.
When her screaming gets too loud, I toss her onto the floor and slam the doors of the balcony shut. As she tries to crawl away from me, I grab her and drag her to the bed, throwing her onto it.
She continues to scream. The longer she does that, the harder it gets for me to remember the good times I had with her, the hopes I had for our future together. It makes it harder for me to see her beauty and the beauty of the baby we could have made tonight.
I regret bringing her to the hotel. It was a stupid mistake. Killing her here could be messy. It would be easy to leave evidence that could lead to my capture. I’ve always done a clean job in the past, and now I messed up. I can’t even think straight with her kicking, screaming, and trying to bite me as I fall over her.
“Shut the fuck up,” I say, my teeth gritted. I reach for one of the hotel pillows.
Shooting her or slashing her throat would have been easier and quicker, but leaving a trail of blood behind would be another mistake.
Just as I’m about to cover her face with the pillow, her knee meets my groin and pain bursts inside me. Instead of stopping me, it drives my anger to another level.
She turns her head from side to side to make it harder for me to cover her nose and mouth, but in the end, she fails. The pillow descends on her face and her screams turn to moans. My chest tightens because they remind me of how she used to sound when we made love. It will be the last time I’ll hear sounds out of her. I want to stop. I want to let her live, but she will only bring me trouble. She knows too much. If she slips through my fingers, it will be harder for me to hide next time.
Someone knocks and every muscle in my body tenses.
Fuck. Someone heard her.
The person at the door calls out, asking if everything is all right. It’s probably one of the hotel’s security guards.
Amanda heard the knocking as well. She’s fighting harder now to the point that the pillow moves from her face and her screams are again released into the air. One of her arms shoots to the side and knocks over a glass vase, which flies to the floor and shatters.
If the person at the door is really a guard, it’s only a matter of time before he makes a forced entry. To carry out my plan would be dangerous. I can’t risk anyone finding me with a pillow over her head, so I throw myself on top of her, pinning her down with my body, and cover her mouth with one hand.
I force myself to think of a solution before everything escalates.
The blade of the knife I held to her throat earlier glints at me and the solution comes to me. I’ve always been great at thinking on my feet.
Before I can take action, a soft click at the front door alerts me that the person outside has unlocked it. Only a member of the hotel staff would be allowed to enter a guest’s room.
There’s no time to lose now. My head pounding from the tension of the moment, I grab Amanda’s hands and force her to hold the knife. With my help, she slices through her right wrist. I quickly force her to do the same to her left.
“Hello,” the male voice is clearer now, coming from the living room area. “Is anybody here?”
While Amanda continues to scream and shake as she tries to come to terms with what has just happened, I get off her and kneel down on the bed, my head in my hands, forcing tears to come out of my eyes.
“Oh, shit,” the guard says, rushing to the bed. “What happened?”
“I don’t know,” I say, injecting as much pain into my voice as I possibly can. “I was in the bathroom and... Please, please call 911.”
The man does not need to be told twice. He pulls out his phone and dials.
A few minutes later, the paramedics arrive. Amanda is too much in shock to tell them what happened. That’s exactly what I had hoped. I had hoped that they would only rely on my story.
The cops also arrive not long after. Apparently, someone, maybe another guest, had called them before the guard showed up at the door. I make sure to keep my story believable.
“She was unstable.” I let out a tortured sigh. “I should have been watching her every second. After she lost the baby, she was so depressed.” I lift the doll from the bed and show it to the officers. “She bought this to replace our baby. She treated it just like a real baby, even breastfeeding it.”
“Jesus,” one of the cops says as he looks from the doll back to me, then at the blood that dripped on the floor when the paramedics carried Amanda onto the stretcher. “Your wife needs help.”
“I know. I resisted it for a long time, but I think...” I shake my head. “I need to do something.” I wipe my eyes. “Sorry, I hope you don’t mind, but I need to go and be with my wife. She needs me now more than ever.”
Chapter 14
BREE
“I didn’t do it,” I say to the nurse who is cleaning and dressing my wounds. “My husband...he cut me.”
I glance past the nurse’s shoulders to see Hunter watching me through the window separating the hospital room from the hallway.
“He’s dangerous. Please, you have to believe me.” I push past the pain on my wrists and grab her hand. “He wants to kill me. He kidnapped me. My name is not Amanda Bloom as he claims. I’m Bree Tyler, born Bree Davis.”
The nurse looks down at me with a worried expression. My stomach drops. Hu
nter has done a good job at telling them his lies. He must have told them that I’m crazy so they wouldn’t believe me. I’m the one lying in a hospital bed with slashed wrists after all.
My suspicions are confirmed when I meet his eyes again through the glass. His dangerous gaze pierces through me and makes my head hurt more. Victory is written all over his face.
I’m fuming as the nurse gives me some painkillers and a glass of water.
“You will be fine,” she says. “You just need to get some rest now.”
“No.” I shove the glass of water back into her hands. “I will never be fine as long as that man is running free. He kidnapped me from Houston, tried to kill me, and is now making it look as though I’m crazy.” I grab her arm again. This time she pulls away as alarm settles on her face. “Do a search on the internet. Search for Bree Tyler. Someone would have reported me missing.”
“Please calm down, Mrs. Bloom. Try to get some sleep. Dr. Price will come and see you in the morning. He’s a good doctor. You can tell him about everything that’s troubling you.”
“I don’t need to talk to some shrink,” I shout in spite of myself. “I need to speak to the cops. That man out there is dangerous. He’s a murderer. He killed my friends. If he doesn’t go to prison, I’ll be his next victim.” I swallow down my tears. “If you don’t do something, it will be your fault.”
She shakes her head. “Mrs. Bloom, no one is trying to hurt you. You’re safe here.”
“No.” I squeeze my eyes shut. “I’m not safe as long as my husband is free.”
“Try to get some rest. I’ll see you in a bit. If you need anything, press the button next to your bed.”
“You can’t leave,” I shout after her. “You can’t leave me alone in here. He’ll come in. He’ll finish what he started.”
The nurse stops at the door and turns to face me. “Mrs. Bloom, your husband is worried about you. He wants you to get better.”
“No, he doesn’t. If the guard at the hotel did not come into the room, he would have killed me. He cut my wrists to make it look like I was trying to commit suicide. I’m not suicidal.”
“I’m sorry,” the nurse says. “I have other patients to attend to. I’ll come back to see you later.”
“You can’t leave me. You can’t leave a patient who tried to commit suicide. Shouldn’t someone be watching me?”
“I thought you said you didn’t try to commit suicide,” she says in a gentle voice.
Shit. I shouldn’t have said that.
When the door closes softly behind her, I grit my teeth in anger. I have blown my chances. But she’s not the only one I can talk to. When the doctor comes in the morning, I’ll tell him or her everything.
When I look up, Hunter is still outside. He doesn’t need to come in to be a threat to my safety. I watch as he exchanges a few words with the nurse, glancing at me through the glass from time to time, a look of fake concern on his face. He has fooled her. He has fooled them all.
When I remember the pillow on my face and how I was struggling to breathe, my chest tightens with fear. Even though I’m trying to be strong, I have never been more terrified in my life. What if he steals me from the hospital again and takes me someplace else, where he can end my life in secret? Maybe he’s just waiting for the lights to go out before he puts his next plan in motion.
The nurse returns again ten minutes later to check up on me. I plead with her again to believe me, but I get the same reaction. She still thinks I’m crazy.
“Your husband is asking to see you,” she says. “Should I let him in?”
“No.” I shake my aching head. “Don’t you ever let him in here. And I want a phone so I can call the cops.” Even though my bandaged wrists scream for me to stop moving, I move my body to the edge of the small bed. The nurse hurries to me and stops me from getting up.
“What are you doing?” She places a gentle hand on my shoulder.
“I need to get out of here.” If I can get out into the hallway, I might be able to find a pay phone. I’ll just have to swallow my pride and beg someone for a coin.
“That’s not a good idea. We were instructed not to let you out of the room because you could hurt yourself. If you need the bathroom, it’s right here in your room.”
“Did this request come from my murderer of a husband?”
When the nurse doesn’t respond, I get my answer. “He paid you, didn’t he? He paid you to keep me here.”
She tries to touch my arm and I move away from her.
“Mrs. Bloom, it’s not what you think. I—”
“I apologize for my wife’s behavior,” Hunter says from the door. He remains in the doorway, arms crossed over his chest.
“Go to hell, you bastard. You won’t get away with this.” I’m shaking uncontrollably now. The nurse tries to calm me, but she fails. Thanks to the numbing effect of my anger and the meds, my physical pains become distant. Just as well because my body is flailing now and I refuse to let the nurse touch me.
Not long after, another nurse enters the room and they try to restrain me. The only way they can calm me down is by injecting me with another drug.
Before my eyes close, I hear Hunter apologizing again and thanking them for taking care of me. He plays the part of a worried husband so well it’s hard not to believe him. Listening to him terrifies me all over again.
The whisper in my ear pulls me from a deep sleep.
“If you say anything to anyone, I’ll kill you and them. You know I will.”
I open my eyes to find Hunter standing over me in the semi-darkness, his face close to mine. His breath smells of coffee and mint.
I want to scream for him to go away, but only a whimper comes out. Now that the drugs have worn off, my body is throbbing with pain again and I don’t have any strength in me to push him away.
“And if you try to leave this room, I’ll also kill you and make it look like an accident. A weak and crazy patient falling down the stairs to their death would be completely plausible, don’t you think?”
He presses his lips to mine and straightens up. It’s only when he walks out the door that fear releases me from its clutches and a jagged scream bursts from my lips. I don’t stop until the nurses rush to my room.
Ignoring Hunter’s threats, I tell them he came into my room. No one believes me. They all think I had a nightmare. Furious, I lose control and slap one of the nurses.
I regret it immediately. But it’s too late. The damage is done. I have confirmed yet again that I’m crazy.
That’s what he wanted. When he came into my room, he knew exactly what he was doing. He knew I’d get hysterical.
I hate myself for falling right into his trap. Now no one is ever going to believe that I’m in danger.
What does he have planned for me? How will he eventually kill me, and where? I don’t think he’ll take me back to the hotel.
Maybe I should just give up on my life. This is a game I will never win. He’s too evil to let me get away. There’s no way he’ll let me live, not after he has told me about murdering my friends. He knows I’ll go straight to the cops.
“Mrs. Bloom, it’s all right.” An older nurse with a shock of gray hair pushes my hair back from my face. “You’re safe. No one wants to harm you. It was just a bad dream you had.”
I look at her with blank eyes, too weak to even fight anymore. I cried, I begged, I shouted, and they refused to believe me. I can no longer trust them to help me.
I can’t trust anyone but myself.
Chapter 15
HUNTER
Dr. Price walks out of Amanda’s room and comes to talk to me. He’s a tall, willowy man with big round glasses. He comes from the hospital’s mental health team and has just assessed Amanda’s state.
I’m still determined to get rid of my wife. She has become more trouble than she’s worth. But I have to be careful. She messed up my plans. I have a lot of cleaning up to do before I get the job done and become someone else.
“Rather upset, I’m afraid. The nurses say she had nightmares last night. Apparently, she woke up screaming. She claims you snuck into her room, and that you want to kill her.”
I let out a deep sigh and force my face to tighten with tension, to give him the impression of a grieved husband. “Doctor, I’m afraid it’s not the first time she thinks someone wants to hurt her. She’s afraid of friends, family… everyone.” I sigh. “She started having the nightmares after she lost the baby.”
“I’m so sorry for your loss,” the doctor says.
“Thank you. It was a painful time for both of us. It still is.” I slump against the nearby wall. “I wish I could take some of her pain away. I did everything, but maybe it wasn’t enough.”
Dr. Price lays a hand on my shoulder. “You should not blame yourself. Your wife needs more help than you can give her. She needs professional help.”
I deliberately stay silent for a moment, my shoulders hunched, my head bowed.
“Mr. Bloom,” Dr. Price says in a low voice, “Are you all right?”
I let out a breath and look into his gray eyes. “I... I’m not sure. I guess I just feel like I’m letting her down. I wanted to care for her myself.”
“That’s understandable, but like I said, she might need more help than you can give her. From what I’ve seen, she’s definitely not in a good place.”
“You think she might try to hurt herself again?”
Dr. Price has no idea that I’m messing with his head, planting seeds in his mind without him being aware of it. Like Amanda, he’s my puppet.
“I can’t quite say yet, but she could. She might need to be observed for a while. I’m surprised the nurses did not pay closer attention to her. We need more nurses in this hospital.” He rubs his chin while gazing into the distance. “Patients like your wife need to be watched twenty-four hours a day.”