Rumor Has It: A Bad Boy Romantic Comedy (17 page)

The last thing I needed was to make him angry. He was potentially more dangerous than anyone I’d ever met.

“Isn’t it obvious, silly?” I said, affecting my most lighthearted tone. He perked up. “I did it to make you jealous. I knew you were watching. I wanted you to see, so that you’d come and rescue me.”

Louis groaned from the other side of the room. My attacker turned his attention to him. I was scared he would finish off Louis and Connor, so I stepped in front of his gun, blocking his shot.

“You’re all that matters to me,” I lied. “We’re all that’s important. It’s you and me versus the world, right?”

That cheesy line came from one of my worst movies. I was betting my stalker would love it though. I was right. His face lit up like a little kid on Christmas morning. Louis started to speak. I couldn’t understand what he was saying though. He’d fallen over onto his side and was starting to crawl towards us. My attacker raised his gun. Again, I stepped into his line of sight.

“Forget them. They’re nothing. We need to get out of here. Just the two of us.”

“We can’t leave any witnesses,” my attacker said.

I remembered how he’d asked me to turn him into my slave. He wanted to be ordered around like a little boy.

“No. Put down that gun. We’re leaving.”

My attacker lowered the gun. I looked over my shoulder and made eye contact with Connor. My gaze fell on the cell phone at Louis’s feet. I gave it a meaningful look. Connor nodded his head in understanding.

“I’m not leaving without you,” my kidnapper said.

There was a hint of a warning in his voice. I couldn’t convince him to stick around until the cops showed up. He’d kill Louis and Connor. I needed to get him out of the house immediately.

“Of course not,” I said with more confidence than I felt. “Let’s go.”

He smiled, but I could see the suspicion in his eyes. He motioned with his gun for me to leave first. As I left Theo’s house, I glanced back over my shoulder. Louis’s publicist’s eyes were open. She laid face down in a growing pool of her own blood. She was clearly dead, taken down by a man she thought of as nothing more than a puppet.

You can’t control a man like my kidnapper. I had to keep that in mind. Louis’s publicist didn’t understand that. Look where it got her. She was too cocky. She thought she could control everything. I remembered my first meeting with Theo. He’d said: “What’s the use of all this money and fame if you’re dead?”

All of her scheming meant nothing now. Fame and money couldn’t bring her back to life. The cold barrel of the gun pressed against my back.

“Go on,” my attacker said. “Unless you’re having second thoughts?”

“Of course not.”

I gave Connor a last hard look. He’d picked up the cell phone and was discretely dialing a number. 911 I hoped. Maybe if I delayed my kidnapper it would be enough time for the cops to show up and arrest him.

“It’s you and me,” he said. “Till the end.”

His words made my stomach drop. It sounded like a suicide pact. If the cops showed up, he’d probably kill me then himself. I had to get him away from here, then figure out how to escape.

I put on my best red carpet smile. “Till the end…”

21

As we drove away from Theo’s house we passed ambulances and cop cars. I turned to watch them speed past us. My kidnapper didn’t seem bothered by their presence. He took it for granted that we’d made a clean getaway. Maybe he was right. Maybe he’d won.

“You said your name is John, right?” I asked.

It was how he’d identified himself to me the first time he’d kidnapped me, but I suspected the name was fake. He cleared his throat.

“No, not exactly. You can call me John though. I prefer it.”

He turned the car down a side street, avoiding the interstate.

“Where are we going?”

“I’m take you home,” he said.

“Back to that place we were before?”

The thought of returning to the cellar made my skin crawl, but on the bright side, it was known to Theo and the cops. Surely, they would search it when trying to locate me. A sick thought crossed my mind. Where was Theo? He’d returned to the theater to capture John. Had John gotten the best of him? Was Theo lying dead somewhere?

“John?”

“Yeah?”

“You know that meathead bodyguard of mine, the one I was using to make you jealous?”

“Sure.”

“What happened to him?”

John’s expression grew dark. “Why do you care? Do you have feelings for him? Why are you even thinking about him right now? This is our time. We’ve both been waiting for this moment for years. The first time I saw you at the premiere for The Age of War, I knew we had a connection. You could feel my presence. You were calling out to me, begging me to come and take you away from it all.”

The Age of War was a movie that came out three years ago. John had been stalking me for much longer than I realized. I studied the side of his face. He was so ordinary looking, not the kind of guy you’d spare a second glance at. I had no memory of ever seeing him before my abduction.

“Was I wrong? Is that what you’re saying? It was all in my head?” he asked.

His grip on the wheel tightened. The car sped up. We were on a narrow road. I worried that he’d lose control and crash.

“Of course not. I was just wondering if you finished him off. He went back there to kill you, you know? It looks like he already shot you once. I hope you didn’t let him get away with it,” I lied. “Did you kill him?”

My heart sank as I waited for him to tell me the worst news I could ever receive: Theo was dead. John sat up straighter.

“Sure, I did. I would never let him get the best of me. He tried to steal you away from me just like that bitch tried to kill you.”

I couldn’t focus. The world passed by outside the car window at an impossible speed. I gripped the armrest and tried to regain my balance. My mouth and throat felt dry. Theo was dead. This lunatic had succeeded. Even if I survived this there was nothing waiting for me. With one bullet my future had been taken away from me.

John continued to babble. I only picked up fragments of his words. “…rotten bitch. Do you know she tried to pay me to shoot you on the red carpet? What does she take me for? An animal?”

He looked serious, as if he really expected me to answer his question honestly.

“Of course not.” My voice was barely a whisper.

“She thinks I’m stupid. Not anymore. I followed you back to that house and waited. I was going to let her finish off that pretty boy actor and your guard, but then she turned the gun on you. She had no right to try and take you away from me. She promised I could have you. She gave me money to take care of you. Then she tried to take it all back. There’s no going back. Do you understand?”

I tried to follow what he was saying to me, but all I could think about was Theo. He was dead. It didn’t seem real. How had a pathetic guy like John managed to overpower him? He probably ambushed him or used some cowardly trick to kill him. He’d never win in a fair fight. Theo was too strong.

“You don’t look happy,” he said. “Don’t you know I do this all for you? I’m your servant. I’d do anything to please you.”

I nodded and forced myself to smile. “You’ve done a good job,” I said weakly.

John smiled brightly. I wanted to punch him. He was so pleased with himself. He thought he’d really accomplished something. I suppose in a sense he had. Though what he’d done here today was nothing to be proud of. I looked out the window. We sped down the street. Could I jump out and run? We were going too fast. I’d probably kill myself. Was that such a bad thing? Was this life worth living? The only thing of value I had was taken away from me by an obsessed fan. Theo died for me. He was a better person than I’d ever be. It should have been me that died.

I shook the thought away.

Theo wouldn’t want me to give up. His death would be for nothing if I did something foolish like jumping out of the car. The car took a turn quickly. The tires screeched as we headed downtown. I craned my neck to take in the skyscrapers around us. We were only a block away from my hotel.

To think, my stalker was right around the corner the whole time. I shook my head.

“This is where you live?” I asked.

“Does that surprise you?” he said defensively.

“Condos around here aren’t cheap.”

“No, they’re not.”

“What do you do for a living?”

“I’m a, uh, doctor.”

The way he hesitated led me to believe he was lying. “What kind of doctor?”

“A surgeon. Is that good enough for you?”

“Why wouldn’t it be good enough for me?”

“You never stop with the questions. I wish you’d stop interrogating me.”

“I’m just trying to get to know you better.”

“We’ll have plenty of time to get to know one another. We’re going to be together for a long time. Unless…”

“Unless, what?”

“You escaped once.”

An unsaid threat hung in the air.
If you do it again, I’ll kill you.

“I was playing hard to get,” I said with a nervous smile. “I wanted you to come and claim me. If you’re going to be my servant then you must learn to understand me better.”

This seemed to satisfy him for the time being. He pulled the car into a parking garage. My instinct was to get out and run, but he kept his gun on his lap. I wouldn’t make it far before being shot in the back. Just as we pulled into the parking spot, a car pulled in next to us.

“Easy…” John warned.

I stepped out of the car and gave the man a hard look. He was older with thinning hair and a rumpled suit. I hoped he’d recognize me and call the cops. News of what went down at the movie premiere had to be all over the internet. Once word got out that Louis had been shot and I was missing, the story would blowup. Everyone would know. Reporters would converge on my hotel, Louis’s house, the hospital. And not just the tabloid press, real journalists would be clambering to get the inside story. This would turn into a media shit show unlike any ever witnessed in the history of Hollywood.

The man, however, only glanced my way. He seemed to be in a hurry. He gave John a harder look than he gave me. He seemed to disapprove of John. It came as no shock to me that John was unpopular with his neighbors. Most stalkers were loners. They wanted to be alone with their fantasies.

I couldn’t believe John was a doctor. Doctors work long hours and have to interact with patients and their family members. He seemed less than social. Besides, where did he find the free time to do all this? A doctor wouldn’t have the free time to stalk someone as much as John stalked me.

John gave his neighbor a dirty look as he walked past us. He kept his gun at his side, out of sight of the man. Once he had gone, John put the gun in his pocket, but kept his hand on it, pointing it at me.

“Let’s go,” he said.

I slowly walked to the elevator. It felt like a death march. Who knew what awaited me in John’s apartment? He’d be careful this time. He wouldn’t be as easily tricked as the last time he’d abducted me.

Escape felt virtually impossible. It would take time for me to figure out a way to flee. The thought of what I might have to endure made me nauseous. Though strangely, I was resigned to my fate. I could never give up. For Theo. His death would be in vain if I didn’t try to escape. I had to fight on.

We stood before the elevator waiting for it to reach the ground floor. I watched the floor numbers light up as the elevator descended. Eleven. Ten. Nine. My chest felt tight. The countdown felt like the end of my life. Six. Five.

I couldn’t do it. I wouldn’t go up there. If it meant getting killed in this dark parking garage, then so be it. It was better than whatever was waiting for me above. I turned to face John.

“I’m not going up there,” I said. His eyes narrowed. “You’re just going to have to shoot me.”

The elevator dinged behind me as the doors opened. John’s eyes went round. Maybe hope wasn’t lost. He went to a lot of trouble to save me. Killing me immediately after abducting me would make all his efforts worthless.

“I’m ordering you to let me go,” I said.

John looked past me. He fumbled in his jacket to pull out the gun. I was suddenly knocked aside. For a heart-stopping moment, I thought I’d been shot. Then I saw him. Theo. He shot out of the elevator and tackled John. I fell to the side and watched as the men wrestled on the ground.

I froze in disbelief. Theo was alive. I laughed like a crazy person.

John managed to fire the gun even though it was still in his pocket. He let out a scream. The idiot had shot himself in the leg. Theo twisted his arm around his back and pinned him face down on the ground. He took the gun from his pocket then patted him down.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

I nodded quickly. I had to contain the urge to jump on him. I couldn’t believe this turn of good fortune was real. I wanted wrap my arms around him and kiss him, then take him somewhere private and make sure he knew how much he meant to me.

Theo took out a cell phone and dialed a number. “I’ve got him in the parking garage,” he said. “Jamie is here too. She appears fine, but I want her checked out by a medic. Suspect is dead.”

Theo hung up the phone. John struggled beneath him, still very much alive.

“Theo, what are you…?”

Theo released John and pointed the gun at him.

“Run,” he said to him.

John looked to me for help. I couldn’t believe the nerve on the guy. He really thought I was going to protect him?

“Run away,” Theo said again.

“You’re just going to shoot me in the back,” John stammered.

“I’m going to shoot you either way. I’ll give you a running start.”

“You can’t do that. Tell him Jamie.”

He turned a pleading gaze on me. Theo had murder in his eyes. He wanted John dead. I didn’t blame him, but it felt wrong.

“Theo…” I started, shocked at what I was about to do. “You can’t kill him.”

I could barely believe the words coming out of my mouth were my own. This man had kidnapped me, held me captive in a dungeon and threated me with worse. And yet, here I was saving his life.

“You’ve caught him. You’ve done your job. Let him spend the rest of his life in prison or a mental institution,” I said.

Theo looked at me like I was crazy. The grip he held on the gun tightened.

“Just let the cops arrest him. Please, Theo.”

“He’ll just get away,” Theo replied.

“No. Not this time. He killed someone today. He’s hurt countless others. He’s not ever getting out of prison.”

John looked hurt, as if my words were a revelation to him. He didn’t seem to understand what he’d done was wrong. It only solidified my belief that it was wrong to kill him now that he wasn’t a threat.

“He’s a rabid dog. He needs to be put down.”

“Theo, look at him.”

John cowered before Theo. He didn’t look rabid; he looked wounded and afraid. I didn’t pity him, but I didn’t wish death on him either. I wanted him to spend the rest of his life locked up, far away from me.

“The police are coming. Let them handle it,” I said.

I stepped closer to Theo and put my hand on his arm. The tension radiating through him alarmed me. It was like it took every fiber of his being not to shoot.

“Please, Theo?”

He winced as if he’d been stung. His arm slowly dropped. I breathed a sigh of relief. John crawled against the wall, cowering in the corner. His leg was bleeding badly. If paramedics didn’t get here shortly, my efforts to save him would be for nothing. He needed a tourniquet, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. The thought of touching him repulsed me.

Lucky for John, several police cars came flooding into the parking garage. Once they saw that the situation was secure, they radioed for the ambulance to enter. Theo wrapped an arm around me and led me away from John. Suddenly exhausted, I leaned into him. He practically carried me to a waiting ambulance.

“I’m fine,” I said again and again as people fussed over me.

“You’re in shock,” Theo said.