Page 74 of It Destroys Me

I wanted to throw my shoulder into his chest and knock him backward, but that wouldn’t get me anywhere in the long-term. I waited for him to finish his thought.

“Last time we spoke, she said…” He paused like his next words were truly painful to say. “…that she loved you.”

Because she did. If I were born blind, I’d still be able to feel her love in the air around her. Hear it in the sound of her voice.

“But did she mean it?”

Yes.

“We’re about to find out.”

Chapter 15

Astrid

I was dead asleep when my phone started to ring on the nightstand.

I fumbled for it in the dark, wanting to turn it off before it woke up Theo. I finally found the button and rejected the call so the ringing would stop. The screen was still lit up, but my vision was blurry so I couldn’t read it.

I immediately checked the bed beside me and hoped Theo was still asleep.

He wasn’t there.

His phone was gone from his nightstand, which meant he wasn’t in the bathroom.

I panicked and grabbed my phone, wondering if he’d been the one who called.

I fumbled with my phone, and it started to ring again.

It was Bolton.

I sat upright and searched the darkness for Theo, hoping he would appear from the shadows and tell me what to do. But he wasn’t there…and something told me that wasn’t a coincidence.

I took the call and put the phone to my ear, the light from the screen bright against the side of my face. All I did was breathe because I couldn’t speak, the sleep still heavy in my eyes, my mind still fuzzy.

“Sorry to wake you, baby.”

I wanted to hear Theo’s voice, not his, not the voice of the man who’d ruined my life. “What do you want, Bolton?” My voice came out stronger than I expected it to. A fire sparked inside me and masked the terror.

“You’re the one who wants something—and I have it.”

My heart dropped like a stone from a cliff.

Bolton spoke to someone in the background. “Anything you want to say to your girlfriend?”

My hand went to my mouth to silence my gasp. Tears started to bubble behind my eyes because I was scared, really fucking scared.

Theo’s voice was audible in the background. “Don’t do it, sweetheart.” He spoke calmly, like he wasn’t in pain, like there wasn’t a knife to his throat or a gun to his temple. “Don’t fucking do it.”

Bolton came back to the phone. “Come back to me, and I’ll let him go. Don’t come back…and he dies.”

“He’s full of shit, Astrid—” Theo released a muffled breath as if he’d been punched in the stomach.

Bolton’s movements were audible, like he took himself to another room. “What’s it going to be, baby?”

If I went back, I would be a prisoner once again. Life would be unbearable, and I’d probably take my own life just to get out of it. But I’d die without Theo. Die if something happened to him…because of me. I suspected Bolton might kill Theo right in front of me once I arrived, so I had to provide a reason for him not to. “Okay.”

Bolton was quiet, like he hadn’t heard what I’d said.