Page 56 of Once I Find You

God, I can’t wait to own my own bakery one day. Every day could be like this.

I don’t know how long it’ll be…but since I’ll be out of my lease, I can save more toward my own space. Obviously, it would be a lot of work, and I’d have to set something up from scratch. With Kane and Mason though, I’m sure I can make it work. Well, make them work.

I’m still kind of annoyed to be missing out on money tomorrow and Friday, but I’ll make the most of the extra time off. I’m hoping once Kane comes to get me later, he’ll tell me everything went fine with Gabi, and we can just put all of this behind us. I tried profusely to apologize and explain myself…but she blocked me. Maybe we weren’t the closest, but we were still friends. I feel guilty lying to them all, but I thought when the time came, they’d understand why I did this.

Ugh. I need to stop stressing over it. I have to focus on finishing these cupcakes.

I hum, swaying my hips. I reach over to grab the candy pearls, and suddenly the lights go out. What the hell? I panic-reach for my cell phone in my back pocket and quickly turn on the flashlight. Crap! Where is the breaker box? I’ve never had this happen before.

I bite my lip, considering first before I aimlessly walk around in the dark. It would be fine…except it’s so dark and rainy outside, that it’s pitch black in the back area despite the windows in the front of the shop. I’m scared of the dark, so I don’t want to freak myself out while I’m all alone.

Wait, that’s right! I walk over to the other end of the long metal table and dig inside my purse. “Aha!” I find the large pocketknife of Kane’s I had dropped in here from when I found it that morning. I feel a little bit better about wandering in the dark with a decent weapon. I guess I shouldn’t have convinced Kane to watch Scream with me last night for spooky season.

I get it open and take a breath as I walk toward the back office. The door creaks open, creepily as shit may I add, and I’m relieved when I see the metal breaker box across the room. I take a step inside, and I hear something clang in the kitchen.

What? What the hell was that?

I totally freeze, holding my breath. No one could be in here, right? I locked the back door, didn’t I? No, I must have just left something at the edge of the table. You drop things all the time, Layla. Relax. My breath is still shaky, but I turn back toward the breaker.

Okay, just get the lights on. You got this.

Suddenly, the office door slams shut. I whip around, and there’s an imposing male figure standing in the dark. “K-Kane?” I ask, and the figure rushes me. My phone and knife fall to the ground, and we struggle to the floor until he pins me.

He laughs, and the sound of it makes my stomach churn. “You’re even prettier in person, Layla Ryan. Surprised someone like The Hangman could leave something so precious alone like this.”

“W-who are you?”

“Me? Oh honey, I’m glad you asked. We didn’t get to meet properly, because when you two broke into my house, I unfortunately wasn’t home to host.”

No. Peter Reed? That’s just not possible. Kane said he had no cameras, and that was⁠—

“Honestly, I figured he’d come for me one day. I was smarter than him. I had hidden cameras in all the rooms of my house. Sure wasn’t hard to find you, and it didn’t take long for you to lead me right to him. Thank you, by the way,” he sneers, and I try again to move. “Hey, don’t beat yourself up over it. It was an honest mistake. You just aren’t cut out to be in cahoots with a serial killer, Layla. I came here to help you.”

“Help me?”

“Do you even know who you’re sleeping with, Layla? Have you ever asked him what happened to Melissa and Sadie?”

Who are they? Exes? Kane has never mentioned those names before.

“You think he’s a good guy? He knew Melissa was being abused, and he left her anyway. Wasn’t a surprise what happened to her once he left. Guess he has a bad habit of leaving girls to fend for themselves, huh?” His hand runs down my cheek, and I whip my face to the side to avoid his touch.

God, I’m tearing up. What’s he going to do to me? I can’t even process anything he’s saying about Kane while my body is stuck in fight or flight like this.

“How about this? You’re either with me, or you’re against me. Kane Mercer is done for. I’m going to send all the evidence I have to the police. If you’re good, I’ll delete the files that talk about you. Aiding and abetting a serial killer is a crime, Layla. You might go to federal prison for helping someone like him. That’s not what you want, right?”

Come on, Layla! Think! Speak! Do fucking anything!

His hand grips my neck when I don’t reply, and he asks again. I shake my head quickly, and he releases. “That’s what I thought you’d say. Why don’t we start by you thanking me for even offering, huh? I bet you can show me how grateful you are. We’ll just have fun until he comes, that way he can watch right before I finally ruin his life. It’s kind of poetic⁠—”

I can’t take another second of this. Is he really bringing the cops here? He can’t be. I can’t let him. He’s clearly got no problem doing whatever he has to do to win. He can’t kill me, right? Or else what would he tell the police? I’m not sure if I really wanna test that theory right now…but I don’t know what else to do. “Okay, I’ll do it.”

“Ah, I knew you were smarter than you looked.” He lifts himself from on top of me, and it’s just enough room for me to lean over and reach for the knife. He immediately realizes I’m reaching for something, though it’s still too dark in here to see. He immediately grabs my arm, and I struggle as I try to move myself forward on the floor to get closer. “You bitch!”

I feel the edge of my phone, but just as it’s almost in my grasp, he gets to it before my shorter arms can reach. “You wanted this?” He holds it up, and I can see Kane calling as his contact flashes on my screen.

He slides to answer, and I scream. “Kane! It’s P—” He puts his hand over my lips to muffle me, and I try to scream through them, but it's unintelligible.

“Your girl is waiting, Hangman. Oh, that’s right. You left, again. You knew there was danger, but you went anyway. Jeez, why does that sound so familiar?” He laughs and hangs up right as Kane tries to speak. He tosses my phone across the room, making it hit the wall and shatter. “Anyway, where were we?”