by Ashlee Price
I wanted Zane to believe me. When I’d found out that it was one of his friends that had shot Tyler, the guilt was overwhelming. I couldn’t think about him doing it again, so I had to believe my words, more than he did. I had to believe that no one else would be hurt because of me.
“I think you’re bluffing.”
“You can think what you want, Zane, but you’re not going to get your way. I’ll never love you, and soon I won’t be here to torment.”
“You don’t understand anything, Camilla. You’ll love me again. You loved me before, and I can make you love me again.”
I moved enough for him to hear the metal grating together on the chains. “This isn’t love.”
Chapter 3 – Tyler
“What do you have for me, Billy?”
“Well, not a lot right now. No one seems to know what happened to her.”
“So no one has seen her?”
“Not that I’ve found. I’ve talked to all of the people at Camilla’s job. It’s like the doctor just disappeared.”
“What about her house?”
“I checked, and there was nothing that signaled a struggle. But there were also no clothes gone, and there were several suitcases unused in the closet.”
“So…”
“So it doesn’t look like she’s gone anywhere, Tyler. Her credit cards are unused, and there are no transportation tickets in her name. Your doctor is gone, and there’s been no digital trace of her since the night that you saw her in the hospital. You’re actually the last person who talked to her as far as I can gather.”
It wasn’t what I wanted to hear. Billy was always good about coming through for me. He’d never found nothing before, and I didn’t like the idea of this being the first time. This was the assignment that mattered the most, and I really needed him to find her.
“So nothing?”
“Not on Dr. Camilla.”
“What about this Zane character?”
The older man sighed and leaned back in the chair. The office door was closed and I still worried that someone was going to overhear our conversation.
“Well, that’s a whole other matter, Tyler. This guy is a real piece of work and he has the criminal record to back it up. Are you sure she was involved with him?”
I nodded my head once. I still could see the fear in Camilla’s eyes when she’d told me about him. “He was stalking her after she tried to break up an affair they were having.”
“And she was his doctor?”
“Yes.” I felt defensive and I didn’t like the implications he was making, like it was somehow her fault. While I’d thought about it over and over again, if Zane had done something to her, it could already be too late, and I didn’t want anyone talking bad about her.
“Just asking. It just seems like a doctor would know better, or see him for what he really was. He was on trial years ago for the murder of his girlfriend. The charges were dropped for one reason or another, but after getting to know this guy’s background, I would say that he did it. I wouldn’t like to think about her with him. It might not end well.”
He was not helping my nerves. I knew that it wasn’t any good, and I didn’t need to see an arrest record to know that. From the picture that I’d pulled up on the internet I knew that there was something off about him. I was biased, of course; knowing that he was with Camilla was enough of a reason for me to not like him. I didn’t need facts to make me feel that way.
“So where is he?”
“Well, he’s a little harder to track down. He doesn’t work in an office, but works remotely for his company. I’ve been in touch with them, but they are insisting on a warrant, which I can’t get unless you want me to get the cops involved.”
“I don’t. They will just hold things up. Do you have any ideas about where he might be?”
“He has a couple of properties registered to him, so he could be at one of them. I haven’t checked them out yet. I wanted to see what you wanted to do.”
“Zane has Camilla, and I know that for sure. Do what you have to do, but check out the places that are away from people. I have a feeling that he has her somewhere where he thinks no one can find her.”
“Boss, you need to be realistic. She’s been gone for weeks. The chances of her coming back are…”
I stopped him before he could finish. I knew what he was going to say, but I didn’t want to hear it. I knew what the stats were and I didn’t want to think about what had probably happened to her. I had to think of her being okay and I had to think of her alive. I wasn’t ready to admit that she was gone. I just couldn’t do it.
“That’s why we have to find her. He was obsessed with her, that much I know for sure, and when a man feels that something that he needs to survive is going to leave or be taken away, he’s going to hold onto it for dear life. He hasn’t killed her, but I would bet all the money that I have that she’s somewhere locked up.”
“Why not get the cops involved, then?”
“They will just bungle it all up, and I won’t be able to live with myself if something happens to her. Right now he doesn’t know that I’m looking for him. We’re going to need that advantage.”
***
It was three o’clock in the morning when the phone rang. I remember thinking that it better be good. It was. It was the call I’d been waiting for.
“We found him.”
“And?”
“She could be there, but I didn’t watch that long. I can’t get in there by myself without him seeing me. I thought I would check with you and see how you want to proceed.”
“Are you sure he’s there?”
“Yeah, he’s in there.”
“No idea about her?”
“The doctor could be in there. It’s an old warehouse and there are a lot of places to hide someone. I haven’t heard anything, but like I said, it’s a big place. There’s something that’s keeping him there, though. He hasn’t left in a while by the look of the tracks coming out.”
“Are you there now?”
“Yeah, I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to send you the coordinates. Is there anyone else that I need to call?”
He was asking about the police again. I didn’t want to go down that route. I was afraid that they would mess it up, but I knew that it had more to do with the fact that I wanted control of the situation. I had to be the one making the calls, because I was the only person I trusted.
“No, I’ll be there in a few minutes. Send through the coordinates and I’m already on my way.”
“This isn’t going to be a nice meet-and-greet, boss. I think you need to take precautions.”
“Already ahead of you on that. You too.”
“Of course. I never leave home without it.”
I thanked him and made my way to the car. I told the driver that I didn’t need him tonight. He wasn’t someone that I trusted, and I needed to feel the speed. I had to get there right now. My mind was already going to what might be happening to her. I couldn’t stand the idea of her being captive for that long, but the alternative was still not something that I was ready to think about. She felt so close after being out of reach for so long.
Plugging the coordinates in, I saw that the destination was right outside of the city. It was going to take longer than a few minutes, but as I pressed the gas pedal down, I knew that it wasn’t going to be that long. Nothing was going to stand in my way now.
Chapter 4 – Zane
“Why do you have to be so complicated? I wish I would have known this about you back then.”
“I wish I would have known that you were a little psycho, but you know what they say about hindsight.”
“If you don’t eat, Camilla, I’m going to force feed you.”
Her eyes widened and I smiled at her. It was obvious that she hadn’t thought about that route. Although the fact was that I wouldn’t even know how to go about it, I couldn’t let her win. I’d almost given up on her ever loving me, and now it was something else.
Now it was a battle of wills that I refused to lose. I couldn’t let this woman get the best of me, and getting her to eat would be a small victory that I needed desperately.
“Fine, do what you must, Zane.”
I was ready to explode. I’d never been so frustrated in all of my life. What had been a good idea to begin with was blowing up in my face. Dr. Camilla wasn’t going to be what I wanted, so now I was starting to think of what I was going to do with her. I couldn’t take it anymore, and I knew what I had to do. I should just let her starve. If she didn’t want to eat, I shouldn’t make her. I should just let her go.
“I didn’t want it to come to this, Camilla. I do love you, but you’re just going to resist me. If you haven’t broken down by now, I don’t see it happening.”
“I told you that I wasn’t ever going to love you. This is not how you get someone to love you. You can’t make them.”
I shook my head and felt the sadness flood over me. She was right, and I wished that she wasn’t. I wished that I could make her love me. It would have been so different if Tyler hadn’t gotten into the middle of it. Now I was going to have to get rid of her like I did Janice. No one knew about us, so at least this time I wouldn’t have to move away and change everything when I got there. This time I was going to be able to continue to live the life that I’d built here.
Walking out of the small office area where she was set up, I went to the duffel bag that I’d brought for when I was staying here. I’d put a lot of time and effort into Camilla, and the results were underwhelming at best.
She called to me and asked what I was doing. I could hear the nerves in her voice, and I wondered if she was starting to realize that she was worthless to me like this. Maybe the doctor wasn’t as stupid as she was pretending. Maybe I just needed to give her some incentive, although I was almost sure that it wouldn’t work. It didn’t seem that the good doctor was afraid of anything happening to her.
“I’ll be out in a minute. I didn’t realize that you were going to be so chatty today.”
When I came out, her eyes were darker than they usually were and she had a smile on her face. It was the first time that I’d seen it in weeks, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Something was off about her. I wondered if maybe she’d just lost her last marble. That would make sense, because the look on her face was downright creepy.
“I’ve been hard to deal with, Zane, I know that. I don’t know why I’m being this way. You’ve taken good care of me, and I know that it’s because you love me.”
“Do you love me though, Camilla? Are you ever going to love me?”
“I can try.”
Now I knew that something was off. The sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach had intensified, and then I heard a noise behind us. Looking at her, I had a feeling that she knew what the sound was coming from.
“What was that?”
“I don’t know. I can’t go anywhere, and I didn’t see anything.”
She was lying like always. Instead of listening to her lies, I covered her mouth with a gag that had already come in handy on more than one occasion.
“I don’t know what you’re up to, but I’m not stupid. I’m not going to let you ruin this for me.”
Walking towards where I heard the sound, I looked back once and saw that Camilla was looking in the same direction. She was mumbling something, but I couldn’t understand her because of the rag stuffed in her mouth.
“Just shut up, Camilla. I’ll get to you soon.”
Looking back towards the dark corner in the warehouse, I saw a flash of something right before I felt a pain in my head. My eyes almost shut with the pain of it, but the voice I heard had me getting up and facing him with blood threatening to blur my vision.
“Tyler? I knew that I should have taken care of you myself.”
“Yeah, you shouldn’t have sent a lackey, Zane, and now you’re going to lose Camilla too.”
I didn’t care. The pain in the side of my head was too much to even think through. I wasn’t going to let him win, and when he moved towards me, my hand reached into my waistband and pulled out the gun that I’d just gotten. I’d been planning to use it on Camilla, but I was more than willing to kill Tyler before her. He was the one who’d ruined everything, and he was back again to finish the job. It was because of him that Camilla didn’t want me. Maybe if she saw that he was dead, she would rethink her stance on loving me. If she saw what the alternative was, maybe all of this starvation nonsense would become a thing of the past.
The billionaire did not have the qualms that I would have thought about facing a loaded gun. Before I could draw a bead on him he was coming towards me with intent in his eyes. He wasn’t going to go down without a fight. But then, neither was I.
“You can’t have her, Tyler. She’s mine!”
The man rushed me and we both fell to the floor, Tyler on top of me. For a rich businessman he was a lot stronger than he looked. I remember thinking how much I’d underestimated him because of his money. I’d thought him soft, but there was nothing soft about the man who was now wrestling the gun from me.
My finger was on the trigger, but I couldn’t get enough pressure to squeeze it. I just had to get him off of me for a moment and then I would be able to end this. My eyes went to Camilla as my finger found the space to pull the trigger. I wanted to see her eyes when I killed him.
A sudden burn moved through my chest, and it occurred to me that I wasn’t supposed to feel any pain. I looked between our bodies, Tyler moving back and standing up as I looked at the growing red spot on my front. All I felt was shock. This was not how it was supposed to end.
Part 10: Possess
The day of the trial for the mall shooter is at finally at hand, but it’s on the same day as a wedding Camilla is going to attend and she’s torn by dual emotions. Tyler is going to testify, and although she isn’t going to take the stand, she wants to be there for him. It brings back a lot of memories of that horrible day, but at least she has Tyler by her side, and they’re both ready to get it all behind them.
Later, the sadness and anxiety are set aside for the wedding of the season. Everyone is talking about it, and Tyler is even going to be part of the grand event. It has Camilla thinking about marriage and her relationship with Tyler. She wonders how long it will be until she and Tyler are walking down the aisle together. Soon…
Chapter 1 – Camilla
“You don’t have to go if you don’t want to, Camilla. I know that this is going to be hard on you. I can handle it if you want to stay here and just take the day off. You haven’t been getting a lot of sleep lately, and I’m afraid it’s because of this.”
It wasn’t because of the court date today or the wedding later in the day. It was really because I just had too much in my mind. I still had dreams about the shooting, but I had more dreams of Zane and my captivity with him. Sometimes when I woke up and it was dark I felt like I was right back in that warehouse. I didn’t know if I was ever going to stop having the dreams. I didn’t know if I was ever going to get the sleep I used to get before everything happened. A lot had happened this year, and I was still trying to come to grips with it. It wasn’t easy, but I was trying.
Today was one of those moments that I needed to go through. I didn’t want to go see the face of the mall shooter. Even though it had been painted across every television for months, I certainly didn’t want to see him in person. But I knew that I didn’t have a choice. I was going to have to face it all sooner or later, and today was the day.
“No, I’m going. I wouldn’t want you to go by yourself.”
“Are you sure?”
I nodded and told him that I was sure, even though I wasn’t really. I was terrified, even knowing that he couldn’t do anything to me. Zane couldn’t hurt me either, but he still bothered me. I still dreamed that he would come back and snatch me again. Everything else was going well, but the past was creeping back slowly into my mind.
“Are you sure you�
��re okay, Camilla?”
“Yeah, just a lot to think about. How are you not nervous? You’re the one that’s going to take the stand and identify him.”
“I’ve waited for this since it happened. I want to make sure that they put him away for a long time for what he did.”
I knew that he really felt that way, like it was his duty to make sure that the man met justice. Tyler was like that, and I was thankful that he was that kind of man. If he hadn’t been, then I would have never gotten away from Zane and I would most likely be dead now. It was a sobering thought that made me squeeze his arm and want to pull him to me. I’d never felt safer than when I was with him, and I wished that I could give him the relief that he’d given me.
“I’m so proud of you, Tyler. You know that, right?”
“Is that my doctor talking, or my fiancée?”
“We’re both proud of you. Besides, I’m not a doctor anymore.”
“You’ll always be a doctor, Camilla. You’re just going to take some time off. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it doesn’t change anything. I just get a little bit more time with you, and I’m all for that. Now I get you all to myself.”
I cringed at his words. It was something that Zane would say. But I knew that Tyler was different. If he wasn’t, I didn’t know if I could date anyone else. Tyler knew how Zane had changed me and he helped me to not go down that road, but even off-handed comments like that made my mind go places I didn’t want it to.
“So are we ready??”
“I am if you are, Camilla.”
I was as ready as I was ever going to be. Instead of dreading it like I’d been for months after I found out the man was going to insist on a trial, now I was thankful that at least it would be over and by the end of the day I wouldn’t have to think about it again.
Tyler drove, having let the driver off for the day. We had a long day ahead of us, but it was going to end on a better note. I was looking forward to the wedding, but this part I wasn’t too happy about. There was also the fact that Ivy was going to be at the courthouse. I didn’t have anything against her because of her relationship with Tyler – I trusted him – but she tried to remind me of their relationship every time the mood struck her. That mood struck too much, and I was already thinking about what I was going to do if she did it there.
