I'm Right Behind You by Rose Talitha

Author:Rose Talitha [Talitha, Rose]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-09-29T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 32

CANDICE

JANUARY 2019

The car seat is comfortable, and I drift in and out of sleep. I think about the last day I saw Zach. I think of the Zach I thought I knew and the real Zach unmasked. When we first met, he seemed so vulnerable and insecure that I wanted to help him

The Zach I thought I knew had pretended to be a lion tamer for Chrissake and never told me who had raised him until one day he exploded after I kept begging. “Don’t ever ask questions about them. They’re not good people.” I put my hand on his shoulder, pleading to know more. “Please talk to me, Zach,” I’d say. “I’m on your side.” He usually responded by slamming a door.

However, one day he broke down and allowed me to stroke his hair, but I still never got answers. He’d revert back to his old ways, and I would be stuck on square one. Later he’d get drunk and declare he wasn’t a nice person. The more inebriated he became, the more he’d insist I was naive and spoiled, knowing nothing about the real world.

“I wasn’t born into wealth,” I’d try to convince him. “I spent many years impoverished. I had the good fortune of befriending wonderful people who helped me.” The money from Abby’s parents was newly minted and happily sitting in my account. He would roll his eyes and make degrading noises with his mouth.

One evening he came up behind me and slipped his arms around my waist. “You’ll have to give me all the money one of these days.” His voice was excited by greed. “You won’t have a choice. You’ll be dead.” He’d laugh when he saw my terrified expression. “I’m only kidding,” he’d claim. “Just keep in mind,” he continued, “spouses die all the time, and you have me in your will.” I hesitated before answering that I could always change it. He went red in the face and began breathing heavily. “I WILL kill you if you try anything like that. That’s a promise.” His face went still, and I noticed a tic in his right eye. He pulled me onto his lap once I began sobbing. “It’s ok,” he said, stroking my hair. “This is a very negative conversation. Let’s talk about something else.” I knew he meant it, though.

From that point on, my senses went on high alert. I programmed myself to feel any change in the atmosphere, any expression on his face that would let me know the day he planned to kill me. I knew it was going to happen one morning at breakfast. Zach insisted we leave the country. “We’ll be done with the United States,” he said matter-of-factly, wiping his mouth. Just like that. “Don’t ask questions and shut up about it.” I sensed his financial scams had gone haywire, and people were looking for him. My money would come in handy to pay the unsavory people he owed.

“Where will we go?” I asked after he had dropped the bombshell.

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