All Chapters of I LEFT WHEN HIS EX CAME BACK WITH HIS SON: Chapter 151 - Chapter 159

159 Chapters

151

THALIAHe had locked me in.The realization took a few seconds to settle because my mind kept looking for another explanation. Maybe the lock had jammed. Maybe the door was stuck. Maybe I had misunderstood something.I reached for the handle and turned it again.Nothing.I pulled it toward me, then pushed it away. I tried the handle harder, twisting it in both directions, but the door refused to move.A tightness began spreading through my chest.“No.”I shook my head, more to myself than anything else, and tried the handle again.Still nothing.That was when the fear became real.I stepped back and stared at the door.“Caleb?”No answer.I walked to it again and knocked first, trying to keep my voice steady.“Caleb, open the door.”Silence.I knocked harder.“Caleb.”Nothing.My heart started pounding. I pressed my palm against the door, as if somehow feeling the other side would make sense of what was happening.“Open the door.”Still nothing.Panic was beginning to rise, hot and fa

152

OLIVIA“This is the three-hundredth time I’m trying to call her.”I stared at Thalia’s name on my screen, watching the call ring until it eventually cut off again. I had lost count of how many times I had tried over the past two days, but three hundred felt accurate enough. She hadn’t answered a single call, and my messages had been met with the same silence.I lowered the phone with a frustrated sigh and looked across the table at Knox.“She’s still not picking up.”Knox leaned back in his chair, watching me with an expression that was far calmer than mine. “I bet Thalia’s just having fun.”I frowned at him.“You said she was with Caleb, right?”“Yeah.”“And you said they had chemistry back at camp?”I nodded again, though I wasn’t sure why I was suddenly having to repeat myself.Knox shrugged. “Then she’s probably fine.”I stared at him for a moment before shaking my head.“Thalia is not the type to disappear from work for a good fuck.”His eyebrows lifted slightly, and despite myse

153

BRANDONI was mad. So mad that it looked like my head was on fire.I had come to pick up Leo again because I figured he was probably at home, bored and looking forward to getting out for a while. I hadn’t planned on staying long, and I certainly hadn’t expected anything unusual.Then I heard him scream.The sound came from inside the house just as I stepped out of my car, and I stopped in my tracks. For a second, I stood there trying to convince myself that I had heard wrong, but another scream followed, louder this time, and there was no mistaking it.“Leo!”I ran to the front door and started banging on it.“Clara!”There was no response.I hit the door again, harder.“Clara, open the damn door!”Still nothing.Another cry came from inside, followed by what sounded like something falling. My heart started pounding as I grabbed the handle and tried to force it open, only to find it locked.I pulled out my phone and called Clara. I could hear her phone ringing somewhere inside the ho

154

BRANDON“You hit him?”Clara opened her mouth, but no words came out.She stared at me, her lips trembling as she struggled to find something to say. For several seconds, she simply stood there, looking from me to Leo as though she had been caught in something she never expected me to discover.“It wasn’t me,” she finally managed.Her voice was barely audible.“What?”“It wasn’t me, okay?”She shook her head frantically, her words coming faster now.“It was Thalia.”I stared at her.For a moment, I honestly thought I had heard her wrong.“Thalia?”“Yes!” she cried. “It was her.”I moved toward her.Clara instinctively stepped back, but I kept walking until there was barely any space between us. I could feel my anger rising again, but I forced myself to keep it under control. Leo was still in the room, and the last thing I wanted was for him to see me lose control.“You hit a little boy repeatedly until his body was covered in bruises, and you’re standing here blaming Thalia?”“I didn’

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BRANDONIt took almost everything we had to get Clara into the ambulance.She fought the paramedics from the moment they stepped into the house, pulling away whenever they tried to guide her outside, shouting that they were making a mistake and insisting that there was nothing wrong with her. At one point, she grabbed the doorframe with both hands and refused to let go, forcing two of the paramedics to carefully pry her fingers away while she screamed that they were taking her somewhere she didn’t belong.I stood a few feet away watching the whole thing unfold.I had known Clara for years. I had seen her angry, manipulative, jealous and unreasonable, but I had never seen her like this. There was something frightening about watching her fight so desperately against help, especially after seeing the bruises on Leo’s little body.“She’s lying!” Clara screamed as they finally got her into the ambulance. Her eyes found mine through the open doors. “Brandon, you have to believe me! Thalia

156

THALIAThe bastard had been gone for two hours.I knew because there was a wall clock directly opposite the bed, and for the past two hours, I had done little more than stare at it and watch the hands move. Caleb had taken my phone, my shoes, my watch, basically anything he thought could help me escape from this room.I couldn't stop thinking about what he had said before he left.I've known you for a long time.I had almost scoffed when he said it.What a joke.I had never seen Caleb before in my life. At least, not that I could remember. Whatever connection he thought existed between us, whatever history he had built inside his head, I had no idea what he was talking about.The sound of keys rattling outside the door pulled me from my thoughts.I immediately tried to turn toward it, but the position he had left me in made even that difficult. The lock clicked.A few seconds later, the door opened, and Caleb walked into the room carrying a plate of food.He looked completely relaxed

157

BRANDONI was still on the phone with the Commissioner of Police when I looked up and saw Thalia’s face on the television again.For the past several minutes, the news had been running the same report on repeat, and each time her picture appeared on the screen, something inside my chest tightened all over again. There she was, smiling in a photograph that had probably been taken on an ordinary day, completely unaware that her face would soon be plastered across television screens because the people who loved her were desperately trying to find her.Missing.The word sat heavily in my mind.I had spent the last few minutes listening to the Commissioner explain what they were doing, where they were looking, and the steps the police were taking, but none of it felt like enough. Not when every second mattered. Not when I had no idea where she was or what she might be going through.I turned away from the television and pressed the phone closer to my ear.“Please,” I said, and I hated how

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BRANDONI touched my cheek where Adrian's fist had landed, still trying to process what had just happened. The sting was spreading across my face, but it was the fury in his eyes that held my attention, because there was something almost frightening about the way he was looking at me.“What the fuck was that for, Vale?”Adrian didn't answer immediately. He stood a few feet away, breathing heavily, his hands still clenched into fists at his sides as though he was forcing himself not to come at me again.For a moment, the only sound in the room was the television behind Olivia, where Thalia's photograph remained frozen on the screen.Then Adrian lifted his eyes to mine.“What the hell did you do to her?”My brows pulled together.“What are you talking about?”He crossed the distance between us before I could say anything else.“You bastard.”His fist caught me across the jaw, and my head snapped sideways from the force of it. I stumbled backward, one hand instinctively going to my face

159

THALIAThe moment Caleb left and I heard the lock click behind him, I stopped pretending to be the woman he wanted me to be.I stayed where I was for a few seconds, listening carefully as his footsteps disappeared down the hallway. My heart was still pounding from the conversation we had just had, and the smile I had forced onto my face was still sitting painfully on my lips, but underneath it, my mind was already working.I looked down at my wrists, rubbing them slowly as I tried to get the feeling back into my hands. They were sore from being restrained for so long, and my shoulders ached from the position he had forced me to remain in, but none of that mattered anymore.I had spent the last two hours thinking about every possible way out of this room, and now I finally had the freedom to try.I got off the bed and immediately went to the door.Locked.Of course.I grabbed the handle with both hands and pulled as hard as I could, but it barely moved. I tried again, putting my weight

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