Run Away With Me : A fast-paced psychological thriller by Daniel Hurst (ebook reader ink txt) 📕

‘Ssshhhh.’

The sound from Adam’s lips is interrupted by his laughter, and as he holds me tightly in his arms, I pray that whatever this is about will not result in him harming my baby. He can torment me all he wants, and I have the feeling that he will, but surely he won’t lay a hand on me in case he hurts the child inside me.

But who knows what he is capable of? I don’t know why he is laughing, and I don’t know why he is completely unperturbed by the arrival of the stranger downstairs. All I know is that I’m in serious trouble.

Then I hear a cough from the foot of the stairs and notice the smile on Adam’s face.

Was that a signal for him?

‘Come on,’ Adam suddenly says, pulling my hand and yanking me towards the staircase. ‘We don’t want to keep our guest waiting.’

I guess it was. But I don’t want to go.

I have to stay up here.

I reach out with my free hand and grab the open doorframe of the bathroom, using the leverage to stop Adam from taking me down the hallway anymore. But Adam doesn’t stop pulling on my other hand, and I feel like I am being stretched in two as I try to keep a grip on the doorframe.

I expect Adam to let go, if only because he must know that I won’t, but he doesn’t, and I let out a cry of pain as my shoulders are pulled wider apart than they should be.

‘Laura, stop it,’ Adam says so calmly that it’s as if he isn’t currently trying to drag me down the stairs.

In the end, my hand loses its grip on the doorframe, and I go flying towards my husband who puts out an arm to stop me from falling past him, and at least that is something because otherwise I would have gone straight down the steps and landed in a crumpled heap at the bottom.

I doubt either me or Samuel would have survived a fall like that.

‘Are you going to stop being silly now?’ Adam asks me, and I don’t have much choice because now he has both of his hands gripping my arms tightly from behind and he is walking me down the stairs.

My feet stumble and I miss one of the steps, but Adam steadies me and keeps me moving until finally, we are at the bottom. I guess it’s time for me to see who is waiting for us down here.

I look around the room but at first, I can’t see anybody. I see the sofa. I see the useless TV. I see the table with our coats lying across it. But I don’t see anybody. But Adam leads me a little further forward and then the kitchen comes into view.

That’s when I see the chair in the middle of the tiles, as well as the person currently tied to it with their mouth gagged and their eyes wide with fear.

I recognise the person immediately. I guess the mystery of the missing man has been solved.

Bradley is here.

But who is that standing next to him?

Adam pushes me away from him, and I turn to watch him walk forward towards the woman standing beside the prisoner. He reaches her and takes her by the hand before moving in for a kiss.

I watch my husband and the woman show no shame in displaying their affection for each other while the man I had an affair with wriggles in his restraints and looks at me for help.

I have no idea what is happening, but it doesn’t really matter now. I assume that I won’t be leaving this cottage alive, and judging by the look on Bradley’s terrified face, he doesn’t think he will be either.

45

ADAM

It’s great to be reunited with Gemma again. It’s nice to reunite Laura and Bradley too although I have a feeling that they don’t feel quite so happy about it as me. The look on Laura’s face is not one of joy, although it’s not as bad as the one on Bradley’s.

He just looks terrified.

‘What’s the matter, darling? Don’t tell me you thought you had kept your little affair secret?’

My question to my wife is spoken in the way that I have been dreaming about saying it for months now. It’s smug, it’s confident, and it’s dripping in a sense of superiority. But it’s no surprise when Laura doesn’t reply. What can she honestly say to that?

‘Any trouble getting up here?’ I ask Gemma in reference to the guy beside us who continues to wriggle and try and break free of his restraints.

‘None at all. He was very easy to handle. I guess two days in the boot of his car has worn him out a little.’

I smile at Gemma and feel a great sense of pride for what she has helped me do. She has risked so much to help me get my revenge tonight, but all it has done is show me what real love is. Laura would never have done anything like this for me. All I got from her were lies, betrayal and a constant visual reminder that the bump in her stomach was Bradley’s gift to my marriage.

Speaking of Bradley, he is still fidgeting, and I admire his effort, if not his common sense. As if we would have allowed there to be any way for him to wriggle free. He’s wasting his last reserves of energy on a futile fight. But it’s fun to watch all the same.

‘I don’t think he is as worn out as we would like,’ I say as I stare into the terrified man’s eyes and feel the fear emanating from within him.

‘Do you want me to put him back to sleep?’ Gemma asks me, and I know she is referring to the chloroform-covered cloth she has on her possession. It’s the one she used to get Bradley into the boot of his car when she abducted