Chapter Seven - How Was Your Trip?

The stranger glanced at Carter through the rearview mirror, his expression softening with what seemed like genuine concern.

“You sure you don’t want me to take you back to the hospital?” he asked politely, clearly caring about Carter’s well-being. “No offence, but you look like you could use medical attention.”

Carter’s eyes were still locked on the rear window, watching Dallas’s massive silhouette grow smaller and smaller as the car sped away. 

Even from this distance, he could feel those dark eyes burning into him, tracking him like prey.

Only when Dallas finally disappeared from view did Carter dare to breathe.

He turned around in his seat, his whole body trembling with tension “Yeah. Yeah, I’m okay.”

He said the words shakily, knowing he didn’t even sound convincing to his own self. He ran a hand through his dishevelled hair and forced himself to take a deep breath, remembering his manners.

“Thank you. Thank you so much for stopping. I didn’t think anyone would actually—”

“Don’t mention it. I’m happy to help.” The driver’s voice was kind and reassuring, calming Carter a bit. “Looked like you were in some trouble back there.”

Carter let himself sink into the leather seat, feeling the adrenaline slowly drain from his system. His ankle still throbbed with pain, but at least he was safe. At least he was away from that psychopath, getting farther and farther with every minute that passed.

The buildings outside began to whiz past in a blur of glass and concrete, and Carter felt relief wash over him. 

He’d finally gotten away. Against all odds, he’d actually gotten away. He was free.

“Just… please take me to the airport,” Carter said, his voice steadier now. “I know I look insane right now, but I just need to get there as fast as possible.”

The driver nodded, his eyes still fixed on the road. “Of course. No problem at all.”

Carter leaned his head back against the soft leather seat, trying to process everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours. 

He wasn’t even going to go back to his apartment for his things, that was far too risky. Dallas knew where he lived, he knew everything about him, apparently.

No, he would go straight to the airport. Then he would buy some clothes from one of those overpriced travel shops, grab the first ticket back to London, and disappear. 

He’d beg his horrible tyrant of a boss for his old job back if he had to. Hell, he’d go back to working part-time as a waiter if it meant putting an ocean between himself and Dallas Cross.

He sighed, shaking his head sadly, “So much for coming home to start a normal life.”

The driver reached over and passed him a bottle of water without taking his eyes off the road. “Here you go, bud.”

The gesture was so unexpectedly kind that Carter felt his throat tighten.

“Thank you,” he whispered, taking it with shaking hands.

“That guy chasing you,” the driver said carefully, “do you know him?”

Carter nodded slowly as the driver watched him through the car mirror.

“He looked pretty intense. You want me to call the cops? I have an uncle on the force, he could totally--”

“No!” The word burst out of Carter before he could stop it.

He cleared his throat, trying to sound less manic. “No, thanks a lot for the offer but here’s really no need to… I don’t want to escalate things any further. I just need to get out of here if you don’t mind.”

The driver nodded slowly, and Carter couldn’t tell if he looked convinced or if he was just polite. It was difficult to put a finger on, probably because he could barely see the man’s face from the backseat.

But that wasn’t relevant now. Carter took a long drink of water, trying to calm his racing heart. 

His fiancée had cheated on him with his childhood bully, and now that same bully had turned into a delusional stalker who thought Carter was pregnant with his werewolf baby.

If he wrote that down, no one would believe him.

The familiar signs for the airport started appearing on the highway and Carter sat up straighter, relief flooding through him as he watched. 

They were almost there. Just a few more minutes and he’d be…

The car kept going, past the main airport entrance.

Carter blinked, turning to look back through the rear window. “Um, I think you missed the turn back there.”

The stranger didn’t respond.

“It’s okay,” Carter said quickly, dusting off his hospital gown as best he could. “You can just take the second entrance. It’s actually more discreet anyway.”

But the car just kept moving. They passed the second entrance… then the third.

Carter’s stomach dropped. “Hey. Hey, you need to let me out now.”

The driver said nothing.

Carter grabbed the door handle and pulled, he realised to his horror that the door was locked. He pulled again, harder this time, his heart starting to hammer against his ribs. “Hey! Let me out!”

Still nothing.

“Are you serious right now?” Carter’s voice grew higher as panic clawed through him. He leaned forward and shook the driver’s seat as hard as he could. “HEY! I said let me OUT!”

Without warning, a dark partition rose smoothly from the centre console, sealing Carter off from the driver completely.

“No, no, no—” Carter pounded on the partition with both fists. “Stop the car! STOP THE CAR!”

The windows began to tint, darkening from clear to black in a matter of seconds. Carter pressed his face against the glass, watching the outside world disappear behind an impenetrable barrier.

“HELP!” he screamed, not caring how desperate he sounded. 

But it was useless, the car must have been soundproof because even passerbys on the street didn’t seem to hear him at all. “SOMEONE HELP ME!”

He fumbled for his phone with shaking hands, nearly dropping it as he unlocked the screen only to see zero bars. There was no service, of course there was no service!

Carter tried the door again, throwing his whole weight against it with a loud thud, but it didn’t budge. 

He was trapped, completely and utterly trapped with nowhere to go.

His breath came in short, sharp gasps as his mind raced through every nightmare scenario. He was being kidnapped in broad daylight, driven to God knows where by God knows who, and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it.

Everyone knows the first rule of being kidnapped is never let them take you to a second location, because the chances of coming back from that second location are next to nothing.

But he’d already failed that, hadn’t he? The moment he’d gotten into this car, he’d sealed his fate.

Carter didn’t know how long they drove. 

Minutes? Hours? Time lost all meaning in the darkness of that sealed compartment. 

He tried the door every few minutes, checking his phone obsessively for service and screaming until his voice went hoarse.

But nothing worked.

Finally, finally… the car began to slow down.

Carter’s whole body went rigid as he felt them turn off the main road onto what sounded like gravel. The engine purred to a stop, and he heard the driver’s door open and close.

Then silence.

Carter stared at the door handle, his heart threatening to break through his ribs. Every instinct screamed at him not to move, that he would not like what he saw waiting outside. But what choice did he have?

The lock clicked open with a sound that might as well have been a gunshot with the way Carter flung himself back away from it.

His hand trembled as he slowly pushed the door open, squinting against the sudden brightness.

Lush green forest surrounded them on all sides, the trees so thick they blocked out most of the sky. And there, rising from the landscape like something out of a Gothic novel, was a massive mansion.

A real one, like something from one of those eccentric celebrity magazines, made almost completely of dark stone and towering windows and ivy crawling up the walls.

Carter’s blood turned cold.

He shrank into the seat, pressing himself against the opposite door, his eyes darting frantically for any possible escape route. But there was nothing. Just forest and that looming structure and…

Carter spotted movement at the mansion’s entrance.

The massive front doors opened, and a figure stepped out, descending down the stone steps with a familiar confident stride, as though somehow he owned all of this.

Dallas.

Carter buried his face in his hands and groaned, before looking up once more to face his enemy.

He looked completely composed, as though he hadn’t just chased Carter through a hospital and across half the city. 

His dark hair was slightly tousled, his expensive shirt rolled up at the sleeves, and that familiar smirk played at the corner of his mouth, infuriating Carter to no end.

He walked right up to the car and stopped just outside the open door, close enough that Carter could see his own terrified reflection in those dark eyes.

Dallas extended one hand, palm up. Anyone watching them would’ve assumed he was inviting Carter to a dance rather than a kidnapping.

“I see you’ve met my driver,” Dallas said, his voice warm with amusement. 

His smile widened, all sharp edges and barely contained satisfaction.

“Welcome to your new home, Carter. How was your trip?”