My heart stops.
Mr. Valentine.
Julian is Mr.FuckingValentine.
Julian smirks. “By the look on your face it seems like your boyfriend may have already told you about me. I knew he’d run and snitch to you. But I’ll worry about him later. Right now, you and I are gonna take a stroll down memory lane,” he says while touching a rose petal.
My body is humming with panic as I eye the door, searching for the damn guards.
“The guards are busy taking a little cat nap Amelia. They’re not coming,” he taunts with a smile on his face.
My eyes widen with fear.
“Don’t worry, they’ll live. But we gotta get going sweetheart, before they wake up and they’re all groggy.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you Julian,” I say in a slow drawl. Anger taking over and pulsing through my veins.
Julian cocks his head to the side. “Yeah, I’d figure you’d say that. Which is why I have one of my buddies in the waiting room of your dad’s hospital.” He taps one finger over his temple while he squints his eyes at me. “Third floor, suite 352, office of Dr. Nuñez.” He opens his eyes fully now and grins. “I got it right, didn’t I?” He smirks.
I feel my throat tighten. “You stay the hell away from my father,” I barely manage to whisper.
“I will, as long as you come with me. Just for a chat, mi amor. I wouldn’t harm a hair on your head.” He reaches his hand out to me.
At that moment, I needed to make a decision. Dateline should have prepared me better for this.
I know it’s more dangerous to go to a secondary location with your captor. But if I don’t go willingly, he’ll probably take me anyways since I’m defenseless here, and I would be putting my father’s life in danger.
I can’t fight him. This man is clearly deranged. He brought me black fucking flowers. He thinks this is flirting. I can’t interrupt the fantasy. I need to play along. I need to fucking survive. For me. For Evan.
So I slip my hand into his. “Where to Mr. Valentine?”
41
Evan
“So,who is this guy? I need a name so I can ask around and see what kind of danger we’re dealing with,” Antonio says with his cop stance.
“He goes by Mr. Valentine now. I used to know him as Julian Vasquez back in the day.”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding,” Antonio yells.
“What is it? You know the guy?”
“Of course I know the guy! My parents knew his mom. She was nice, but my parents found out what her husband did for a living and forbade me from hanging with Julian. But not before he gave Amelia her first kiss.”
First kiss?
My blood begins to boil.
“What are you saying Tony?” I shout.
“I read her diary once. Save the judgements for later. She wrote about her first kiss at the neighborhood laundromat with a kid named Julian and I knew it was him. He was always following me around, but I guess it was actually to be closer to Amelia.” Antonio kicks a chair. Then his eyes widen, realization seems to overcome him. “Amelia’s birthday. He came by the pub and talked to Amelia. I stood by her, so he didn’t get any ideas, but the fucker was clearly flirting with her. It happened after you left.”
After I left Amelia. He was able to get to her once. He will try again.
I’m going to kill this man.
“I’m going to call Amelia to come back. This whole thing isn’t about getting back at me, it’s about getting to Amelia.” I run to the kitchen to get my phone when Antonio’s cell starts ringing.
