Page 50 of Pretend I’m Yours
But, as I crossed the alley, something caught my eye. There was a shoe lying in the middle of the road, along with a few personal items scattered about. My heart raced as I picked up the wallet, certain I recognized it. When I saw her ID inside, my stomach flopped.
It wasn’t hard to guess what happened. No wonder she wasn’t answering her phone. I quickly flipped open the GPS. When I’d moved in we’d agreed it would be best to have our trackers on each other’s phone. That way I’d be able to find her if something were to happen.
Something just like this.
She was obviously in a car heading toward the east side of town. Considering how fast her phone was moving, and her scattered effects on the ground beside me, I knew she wasn’t driving. Glancing around, I saw a guy getting off his motorcycle. Without a moment of hesitation, I ran over to him.
“Man, I need your bike,” I said. “It’s an emergency.”
“Fuck off,” he said. “You aren’t touching this.”
“Here,” I pulled out a wad of cash and his eyes widened. “I’ll bring it back without a scratch, please.”
“You better,” he said. He flipped through the money as I climbed on the back of the bike and started the engine. I could go a lot faster on a bike than anyone could go in a car on the streets of Chicago.
Hang on Hannah, I thought. I’m coming, and God help your ex when I get my hands on him.
22
Hannah
I threw myself against the door of the vehicle once more, hoping that it would give. I knew it was highly unlikely, and I would then be forced to jump out of a moving car if it did, but it still seemed like a better option than going with Brandon.
I was confused as to where we were going. The entire time he and I were together, we were either out on dates or at my place. He moved into my house before I ever had the chance to see where he lived, and I wasn’t even sure he’d take me to his place anyway.
It had been getting dark when I left the bar, and the light was fading fast. It was going to be completely dark soon, making it even harder for anyone to find me. I wanted to scream out the window for help, but just as he had removed the handles both doors in the back of the car, he had also disabled the windows.
I didn’t need to be blindfolded. I was just as much a prisoner now as I would have been if I were tied with a kerchief over my eyes. I tried not to panic. Brandon was a lot bigger than me, and a lot stronger. But what bothered me most about him was that he seemed to have lost his sense of reason.
The Brandon I’d known before was selfish and arrogant, and he didn’t care how much he hurt me. But that Brandon wasn’t the kind of man to kidnap a woman. At least, I didn’t think he was. Perhaps I’d been with a psychopath the entire time.
I knew it was him shortly after we started struggling, and I wasn’t sure if that scared me more than if I had been taken by a complete stranger. After all, someone who didn’t know me would be more likely to work with my parents for ransom or something.
Brandon didn’t want ransom. He wanted revenge on me for hurting his pride, and he wasn’t going to stop until he had it.
“You know you aren’t going to get away with this, right?” I said. “Once my husband figures out that I’m missing he’s going to be on your ass.”
“Your husband!” he laughed. “That’s rich!”
“You can say that, but he’s military, and he’s not going to take it easy on you,” I said. Drake had already punched him in the side of the head once before, and I was sure he hadn’t forgotten what that felt like.
“You aren’t married,” Brandon said. I faltered slightly, but it was enough for him to catch it.
“I am too,” I said. “You met my husband yourself, twice.”
“You forget that I’m a cop,” he replied. “I do my homework.”
“You were let go from the force. You aren’t a cop anymore,” I said.
“Once a cop, always a cop if you ask me, and I’m glad for it. It proved most helpful when I did the research on your ‘husband’. You know, if you really wanted this to work, you might have told him not to use his real name,” he said. “Once I found out from one of the other guests at the gala what is name was, I went straight to the courthouse to find the records of your wedding.”
“We eloped,” I clung to the story. I was starting to get the impression Brandon really did know the truth. Or, at the very least, part of the truth. All he needed to know was that I lied to him for anything else to be irrelevant.
