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

‘What are you talking about? What have you done to her, you crazy bitch?’

He steps towards me, but I spring up from the sofa and move behind the breakfast bar in the kitchen, keeping a safe distance between us.

I move much faster now I’m not carrying a child.

‘I’ve done the same thing as you did to Bradley,’ I tell him, shrugging my shoulders. ‘I’ve got my revenge by killing my partner’s lover.’

‘Oh my god, why?’ Adam asks, and as much as I am enjoying seeing his pain right now, I am a little hurt that he is displaying far more emotion for Gemma than I have ever seen him show for me.

‘Why did you kill Bradley?’ I ask, keeping as still as I can even though my heart feels like it is going to explode out of my chest and out onto this breakfast bar between us.

‘Why do you think? Because of what he did with you! The betrayal. You broke my heart! How could I let you get away with that?’

‘You didn’t have to kill him. And you didn’t have to try and kill me either.’

‘I was angry!’

‘I know you were. And I don’t blame you. I know what it’s like to have that same anger. It’s impossible not to act on it.’

Adam’s eyes go wide with fear when he realises what I’m alluding to.

‘Where is Gemma?’

‘Why do you care so much? She deserved this too. I know it was her idea to try and kill me just as much as it was yours. I know she helped you. I know she is the reason Bradley is dead and Samuel is in that incubator.’

My voice cracks as I say that last part. I’m acting right now, but that bit was too close to reality. No matter what I am hoping to happen here, it doesn’t change the fact that my baby is still fighting for his life in hospital.

‘You’re right. We did it together,’ Adam replies. ‘Do you know why? Because we were in love. She was willing to kill for me because she knew how much pain I was in after what you and Bradley did. How amazing is that, Laura? That’s real love!’

I let Adam’s words hang in the air, not just for dramatic effect, but because I am a little shocked at how much he actually believes that what he and Gemma had was true love. In reality, they are nothing more than a pair of psychopaths, and they deserve everything that is coming to them now.

Adam notices my eyes moving to fix on something behind him, and he turns around to see Detective Cleevely standing in the doorway. He is quickly joined by the two police officers who were hiding in the utility room off the kitchen.

They were here to protect me, but they were also present to hear everything.

The look on Adam’s face lets me know he has just realised that.

He doesn’t say a word as one of the police officers slaps handcuffs on him, and the other one leads him to the door where Cleevely simply shakes his head at the suspect as he passes him by.

I can hear the sound of several vehicles driving up to the cottage, all of which were parked out of sight from the dirt track leading up to here, but their drivers had made sure the cottage was surrounded in case Adam tried to escape.

My plan worked. Both Adam and his accomplice are now in police custody. Based on my husband’s emotional statement to me a few moments ago that would have been picked up by several witnesses, as well as the numerous ‘bugs’ hidden around the cottage, the pair of them have some serious explaining to do.

While it was my job to get Adam up here so he could confess to the crimes, it was Detective Cleevely’s job to take care of Gemma. My lie about the security camera was the way for me to get Adam to visit her home and prove the part of my story about my husband being involved with her. I knew he would need to speak with her as soon as he learnt there was a possible problem with a camera in the cottage and he didn’t let me down. No sooner had he left Gemma’s flat then the detective moved in, arresting her on suspicion of Bradley’s murder and the attempted murder of me and Samuel.

She is currently being held in custody at the police station where her photo was taken which I used to send to Adam, making him think that she was in danger and enabling the second part of my plan to play out. I imagine Gemma might be feeling a little confident that there isn’t much evidence to hold her permanently, but I doubt she will be feeling quite so smug when she finds out what Adam has been saying in the presence of so many police officers. I had to make sure I guided the conversation in such a way whereby he would confess to what he and Gemma had done without feeding him information, but I guess I did a good job of it.

He wouldn’t be sitting in the back of a police car right now if not.

I return to the window and look out to see the police car containing my husband making its way down the dirt track towards the main road. But that’s not all I see. I spot a break in the grey clouds in the distance, and a rare sliver of blue sky becomes visible.

It’s been a long time since the sun was shining, but I guess every storm has to end eventually.

EPILOGUE

Today is a good day. Samuel has finally left the hospital, and he is home safely in my arms where he belongs.

He is doing much better now than he was when he was born, able to breathe without medical assistance and growing bigger and stronger by the day.