TRAPPED (Breaking Free Book 2) Read online

  Wait… what? Now who is she talking about? Did Dan or didn’t Dan do this to her?

  Hunter’s chest vibrates against my back as he speaks.“No, it’s too much to take in so soon.” He snaps back.

  “She can handle it, stop wrapping her in fucking cotton wool, she has a right to know!”

  I rub my temples, a headache forming between my brow from the stress and confusion of everything that is going on. I tune the pair of them out for a moment, trying to work out what the fuck they mean. It’s no use, Lottie has one hand to the side of her neck, wincing every time she raises her voice at Hunter. And Hunter’s voice is so low it’s coming out like a growl.

  “WILL YOU JUST FUCKING STOP!” I scream, ignoring the shooting pains in several parts of my body. The pair of them are acting like children, and being utterly rude.“One of you tell me what the fuck is going on before I walk out of this room and refuse to speak to either of you until tomorrow. I am not a child, and if this somehow affects me then I have every right to know what is going on.”

  I remove myself from Hunter’s arms, turning and stalking back to the sofa, without waiting for them to follow but expecting them to.

  “Dan did this to me, he has also been threatening Diane.” Woah, what the fuck? How has all of this happened since yesterday? Oh fuck, this is all my fault, regardless of what Lottie says. I brought them in to this, none of this would have happened if it wasn’t for me.

  I feel sick, immensely, and have to keep swallowing to avoid puking all over Lottie’s posh floor. I will not throw up, I will not throw up, I repeat to myself like a mantra, attempting to quell the sick feeling and hear the pair of them out. I know for a fact that I will not like what is said, regardless of that, I need to hear it anyway.

  “Don’t beat around the bush or anything.” I hear Hunter grumble as he lowers himself beside me and picks up my hand.

  “I don’t have to beat around the bush, Connie would much rather prefer to get it over and done with as fast as possible, the waiting for answers will be killing her.” Her eyes narrow on Hunter as Harry helps her lower to the separate seats beside me.

  “And Connie is sitting right here and can answer for herself, so can we please get down to what the fuck is going on before I throw up all over your lovely Italian themed front room please.” Lottie has probably been through the shock of her life, and part of me feels like a bitch for being so snarky with her, but the pair of them are infuriating and talking about me as if I don’t exist. I’m not some helpless child.

  Harry pipes up, talking over Hunter and Lottie as they both begin to speak. He seems just as edgy as I am.“Connie your ex has completely lost the plot. You know from his behaviour and kidnapping of you that he has become desperate and isn’t in a clear frame of mind. He is annoyed at you for leaving him, but he really blames your friends and Hunter for you doing just that, he feels that they took you from him. His reasoning, or so we can work out from the threats he sent Diane, is to remove everyone from your life until he is the only one in it, his ultimate goal is to have you back.” It doesn’t make sense to me, I mean, he always wanted me around, as a possession, not because he truly wanted me, so I don’t understand this attacking my friends all of a sudden.

  My head flops down between my knees, and I attempt to suck in several deep breaths down in to my lungs. All aches and pains forgotten, my body itself feels numb, my mind is going ten to the dozen, and my chest has tightened incredibly. I’m on the verge of a fucking panic attack, I just know it.

  “Breathe, just breathe baby. I’ve got you.” Hunter’s hand rubs my back as he whispers the words in to my ear. My body reacts to the sensations immediately, his touch like an anchor, pulling me back in to the here and now, and out of the panic zone.

  My breathing slowly calms, allowing me the energy to lift my head back up and give everyone my attention again.“Okay, I got this. I’m fine, it’s just a huge shock is all.”

  Nobody moves to speak, so I try again.“Please, don’t stop or my mind will conjure up the worst, and I don’t think I can handle that right now.” I Plead with them all.

  “I was driving to the office, not even really taking note of any of the other vehicles on the road. I had literally just pulled to a stop at a set of traffic lights, when I’m not even joking, but out of nowhere a small white van speeds up behind me, and swings his car in to the lane beside me as he reaches my level, it all happened so fast from there. Dan was staring at me, just staring at me with the most sinister expression I have ever seen on somebodies face, then the front of his van smashed in to the side of me. I was forced over slightly, before he reversed so quickly and drove in to me again. Thankfully he mainly hit the back of the car, I was told if he hadn’t there is a bloody good chance he would have seriously hurt me. As it was I had to have the door cut off to remove me from the vehicle.” Her voice pauses, and she takes a deep breath, absently rubbing her sore neck.“Connie he came from nowhere, it’s not even the crash that has me spooked, it’s the way he came at me and then drove off like nothing hadhappened.”

  A tear rolls down my cheek, and a lump forms in the back of my throat making it difficult to swallow. That bastard, that sick, twisted fuck. I hate him so much, I didn’t think it was possible to want to hurt someone as much as I want to hurt him. I lean in to Lottie and place a kiss on her.“I’m so sorry.” I tell her solemnly as I pick up her hand and squeeze it.

  Her eyes move to the side, but her neck remain still and stiff.“Don’t. What did I tell you? This is in no way on you, and you thinking that is beginning to piss me off. I have never been happier than when I was seeing you finally break free from that twat. I wouldn’t change a thing if it meant you and my gorgeous god babies ended up happy and free from his clutches.”

  I am so lucky to be surrounded by these amazing people. After all those years of being locked away, and seeing Lottie only a handful of times, I now have my children happy, my friends can be seen whenever I decide to, an amazing, selfless man, and my Mum and Dad back in my life full time. But the pain I am causing the people I love by being away from Dan is so hard to take. I hate being the cause of their suffering, and say what they want, they wouldn’t be going through all of this if I was with Dan in the first.

  Though if I did that then I am putting my children back through the hell of living with that tyrant, and I could never do that to them again, I hate myself enough for allowing to live that life for so long.

  “Did you report to the police that you saw it was him?” I ask. I know they said Harry and his‘team’ or whatever that means will deal with it, but so far they have done nothing, well they did find me, but things are deteriorating rapidly and I want all routes covered.

  The room is silent for a moment.“The police are aware, and yes they are searching for him too, but they have every confidence that my team will find him first. I know it is frustrating, but we will nail the bastard. I promise you.” Sincerity rings clear throughout Harry’s voice.“Excuse me for a moment.” He steps away from us and pulls out his phone. He walks out of the room, his voicing fading until we can no longer hear him.

  Well I guess I got all the answers I was going to get from him.

  “Connie I know this is a huge shock for you, and is a lot to take in, but your Mum will be here with Alex and Lily soon, and that is going to require you acting as normal as you can.” Bollocks, how could I forget that my babies would be here so soon? Well, I suppose with everything that has been going on it is not hard to. They are safe and cared for, therefore I was trying to deal with the situations that weren’t so‘okay’. That’s what I tell myself anyway, as a way to stop the guilt from mounting.

  I keep trying to force myself to move, but I am so reluctant to leave Lottie. She is in this mess because of me.“Go, I’m fine, Harry is staying with me. Give those gorgeous kids a big kiss from me, and tell them Aunty Lottie has some wicked treats.” More presents, talk about two very spoiled children I shall be dealing with. I hope they don’t get
used to this treatment, I barely have a pot to piss in, let alone money to be splashing on lavish gifts.

  “I love you chick. If you need me, you call me.. gotit?” I lower myself after standing to kiss her cheek.

  “I got it. Now get, I can see you are practically bouncing with excitement. It has been a long old week and those kids will be bursting at the seams to get to you. I love you too, call me tomorrow okay?”

  “I will. Night Lot’s”

  “Night girly.” And with that I take Hunter’s hand as he says goodbye to Lottie, and walk to the front door, only stopping to say good bye to Harry on the way out.

  I hope they catch Dan soon, I’m at breaking point with the sick fuck and his twisted ways.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Connie:

  I’m reeling. I don’t know how it all came to this, but I do know that I have to fix things somehow. I need to remove Dan from the picture if any of the people I care about are to remain safe. I just don’t know how to go about it.

  “Where are we going?” I ask Hunter, as he leads across the lobby to the elevator and down to the car park. I dig my heels in and come to an abrupt stop as he ignores me.

  “Trust me.” The back of his hand strokes it way down my cheek, his fingers gripping my chin and lifting my face to his to take my lips in a hot and heavy kiss.

  “I do.” And I truly do trust him, totally and irrevocably.

  His hand comes down to take mine, and tugs me along until we are standing before a brand new looking black Mercedes Benz CL65 AMG. I have seen Dan looking at pictures of this car, pure luxury or something he said.

  I look around, wondering what we are doing down here.

  “Well?” He questions.

  I don’t get it.“Well what?”

  I pivot on the spot, unsure as to what is supposed to be happening.

  “Do you like it?” He grins down at me.

  I’m missing something here, what am I liking?“Like?” I draw the word out, not grasping where this going.

  He waves his hand in the direction of the car,“well this of course, do you like it?”

  Oh, duh. So he’s bought himself a new swanky car. I must admit it’s not a car I pictured him driving, I would have said flashy sports car or something, but it is lush all the same. This must have set him back a fair bit.“Why didn’t you just say so? It’s really nice. Are we going for a ride?” I ask, excited at the prospect of going for a drive in something so fast and expensive.

  The keys are thrown at me, and my arms come up instinctively to catch them.“Go on then.” Oh crap, I can’t drive this. It’s a brand new car, a car that costs more than I can even begin to imagine. What if I crash?“Hurry up, we haven’t got long.”

  Okay, I can do this. Think of the rush when you put your foot down, I tell myself.

  I jump in to the driver’s seat, sinking in to the comfort of the soft leather.

  I fire her up, in awe from the feel alone of being behind the wheel to this car. It’s something else entirely, the interior is out of this world.

  “Oh wow.” It’s really swanky. I’m not going to want to drive anything else ever again after being in this beauty.

  “Take it slow, this thing has A LOT of power. We aren’t in any rush.” Hunter tells me soothingly. I could squeal in excitement, the adrenaline is coursing through my body and I can’t wait to get it on the road.

  I do as he says, and pull the car slowly out of the car park. The accelerator is so delicate, I’m not used to anything so powerful. Hunter programmes the nearest carvery in to the built in satnav,“Go where this tells you to baby.”

  After driving for twenty minutes and getting a feel for the vehicle, we hit a long stretch of road, practically deserted with the national speed limit signs up. I press my foot down, and am sucked back in to my seat as we hit 60mph almost immediately. My stomach flips, and I giggle light-heartedly, loving the thrill.

  “Oh my god, this car is amazing.” The words come out high pitched and almost at a shout. Even with a sprained ankle this car is a joy to drive, everything is so light it doesn’t affect it at all.

  The road ends far too soon, and the satnav prompts me to take a left in to the next road, where a huge pub like building is located. The sign‘Toby Carvery’ is by the car park entrance, and I pull the car in to a bay directly outside the front doors.

  I flip the engine off and turn in my seat, with the biggest shit eating grin on my face.“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. That was amazing, the best feeling in the world, the luxury of the drive, and the power of the vehicle, it’s so amazing, I can’t even think of words to describe it.” I gush out, hardly pausing to take a breath.

  Hunter takes my hand in his,“DO you really like it?”

  I look at him sceptically, as if he needs to ask that question,“You really have to ask? It is simply amazing and, perfect, and, amazing amazing amazing! You made a really good choice with this car babe, I love it.”

  A grin spread across his face.“Good, cause it’s yours.” He drops that bombshell and steps from the car closing the car door behind him as I sit gaping at his empty seat.

  No, surely not. No, he wouldn’t, he wouldn’t do something as big as this, it wouldn’t be right.

  My door opens, and Hunter removes my seat belt for me, chuckling to himself. The bastard thinks this is funny, it is not funny!“Look in the back.” I lean over slightly and take note of the two car seats, one covered in superheroes and the other covered in princesses. How did I not notice that before? Fuck!

  “No Hunter, I won’t accept this.” I’m adamant he won’t win me round on this. This is the sort of gift you give your wife or long term girlfriend, not a girl you have just started seeing.

  “Tough, it’s yours, all paid up and in your name.” He tells me smugly.

  “Well take it back.” My voice comes out high pitched and squeaky from the panic. I cannot and will not accept this.

  “Can’t, it doesn’t work like that. If I sell it on now then I lose money on it. You need a car, one to get you and the kids about safely, and I have solved that for you.” Oh fuck I feel faint, what goes through his head? Oh, I know, I’ll buy the woman I have just met a car that most people would give their right arm for.“Connie it’s just a car.” He says offhandedly.

  “Just a car,” I screech at him,“Just a car? Just a car is a cheap runner that will set you back a few hundred pounds, not tens of thousands.” Does he not get this? I can’t afford to run a car like this.“And how do you expect me to keep this car on the road, I haven’t exactly got a never ending flow of money.” I’m surprised he hasn’t covered his ears, my voice is high pitched enough to smash windows.

  He pulls me up and in to his body,“Baby chill, I’ve got it covered. Just say thank you and make me happy. Please?” He even has a pout on his lips.

  “No, I’m sorry Hunter, but I am not going to keep taking your money, you hardly know me.” He pulls back as if I have struck him, his nostrils flaring in anger.

  “I know you well enough lady, well enough that you need a car, well enough that it has to be safe to get you all from a tob, and well enough to know that this is shock talking and not you being ungrateful. And you should know me well enough to know that I will not just buy you any old piece of junk, this car barely even touched my bank balance. Why can’t you just make me happy and accept the gift. If your mum bought you something would you tell her to take it back?” How can he even say that? I am incredibly grateful, I just think this is too much.

  “My mum wouldn’t buy me something as extravagant as this.” I throw back at him.

  “She would if she could afford it.” His eyebrow raises, daring me to object. Yeah he has me there, buy it’s so not the point.

  “Fine, I’ll sell it and lose some of the money I paid for it if that’s what you really want.” Dammit, no it’s not, I don’t want him losing money at all. The bastard is weakening my resolve but I don’t know what to do.

  I sigh aloud, and he
grins, seeing that he has me backed in to a corner. He goes for the kill,“Thousands of pounds will be thrown away if you choose not to accept it.” I could smash my head against a brick wall in frustration.

  “Fine, you win. I honestly love the car, but you have to know that I am not too happy that you have done this, it’s far too much. I can’t ever afford to pay you back.” He leans down and pecks me on the lips.

  “I didn’t buy it for you to pay me back, I bought it for you as a present. Now, kiss me and make your man happy in other ways.” He winks at me and I give in, the excitement over owning something like this is out of this world. I cannot believe I own this car. It hasn’t sunk in, it’s such a surreal feeling.

  I throw my arms around his neck and start placing wet sloppy kisses on every piece of available skin, whispering“I love you’s” In-between.“I know you do baby, and I love you too.” He responds, and tightens his arms around my waist.

  I must be dreaming, there is no way my life has turned around so fast, it doesn’t seem even remotely possible.

  “Come, let’s go and eat.” He slings his arm around my shoulder and leads me in to the restaurant.

  “And how may I help you?” A laugh very nearly escapes my lips at the totally suggestive way the blatantly gay host greeting you upon entry talks to Hunter. He has either chosen to ignore me stood under Hunter’s arm, or he is so ensnared by Hunter that he hasn’t seen me.

  “We have a reservation. Name of Jacobson.”

  You would think Hunter was totally unaffected by the looks and reaction he was receiving from this man, but by the way he has just subtly pulled me closer towards him and his arm has tensed up slightly, I would say he is very aware.

  I have to close my eyes for a few seconds, the looks Hunter is receiving are hilarious. The host looks ready to pass out at our feet, he is practically drooling as it is.