“Abby, it will all work out. I promise nothing will happen to you, or Melodi, or Katie. No one, okay?” He reaches out and takes my hand, soothing me.

“I know, but you aren’t God. You can’t control what he’s going to do next,” I snap.

“I’ve been watching him carefully for that last twelve months. He hadn’t noticed me until I ran into Melodi that day.”

“So, this is all my fault because I ran into you, or is it because Jacob has had his eye on me since my sister died? Now he’s decided to make his appearance known and him coming into my workplace…is it all part of his master plan?” Melodi asks from the doorway. Flick’s by her side, wearing a stone face. She’s very protective of Melodi, as is everyone else in here, especially me.

“What! No. This is not your fault at all. It’s all my fault. I should have dealt with it all those years ago, and now he has a lot of anger built up and who knows what he’ll try. I was stupid back then when I decided to leave, but I had no choice—”

“You always had a choice, Abby!” Melodi screams at me. Corban is by her side instantly. I hang my head in shame as Katie comes over and climbs onto my lap. I wrap my arms around her and take a deep breath.

“I know. I wasn’t thinking. The whole thing was staged, my death was staged.” There’s silence all around me, and I look up into the shocked faces of everyone present.

“What do you mean, staged?” Melodi asks.

“What I mean is I had been planning it for a little while with the help of Blake.”

“Tell me.” Melodi walks over to the lounge and takes a seat, as does Corban and the rest of them.

“I’ll put Katie to bed first. I don’t think it’s something she needs to hear.”

Blake steps forward taking her from me. “I can do it for you, they deserve all the answers.”

Seeing her wrapped in her father’s arms fills me with a joy that I never thought I would experience, and that’s another thing I need to face. My list just keeps growing with all the mistakes I’ve made.

Chapter Seventeen

Abby

The Plan and Execution

Three Years Ago

I was sitting there, talking, looking over this crazy idea Blake and I had come up with. Who in their right mind would do something like this? Oh, that’s right…me.

I saw no other way to get out of this mess. Of course, there was the police, but I didn’t want my family knowing how terrible my relationship with Jacob really was. Blake was the only one who knew about everything. Jacob was out of town for a few more days, then everything would be set in motion.

We had a plan.

So much thought had been put into this, but was it really worth all the trouble?

I honestly didn’t know.

“Are you okay, Abby?” Blake’s voice pulled me from my thoughts.

I looked over the paperwork spread out in front of us. Plane tickets bought with cash. A detailed plan and notes for how everything would flow. Now we just needed to compile enough money to survive for a little while. Blake was taking care of the new paperwork, new name and security numbers. Once again, there was so much work to achieve something that could easily be fixed by just going to the police, but Blake said that they couldn’t do anything unless there was proof. The only thing was to obtain a restraining order against him, and knowing him he would violate that within a matter of hours. Who knew what would happen then.

“Yeah, this is so much to take in. I don’t think I can go through with this.” So much crazy was running through my head.

“I know you can do this. You’re a strong woman and I’m crazy about you. I want you safe and all to myself.”

“This just doesn’t seem right.”

He moved closer, wrapping me in his arms. As soon as they were around me a sense of relief enveloped me.

“Everything will work out for the best. It might take some time for things to smooth over, but I know it’ll all work out.”

He tried his best to comfort me, and yes it worked for a short time, but once I was on my own again, I thought about things and began to fall back into the doubtful pit of despair.

“Abby, don’t overthink this, it needs to be done. He’s back tonight and you need to be prepared for the following week and what’s got to happen.” The thought of what was going to happen in the next week made me sick to my stomach. “Now do you know what you need to do?”

“Yes, I don’t need reminding, thanks,” I snapped, not wanting the reminder.

“I’m sorry, but it has to be perfect. One slip up, and he’ll know and then this will all fall apart.”

I aimlessly nodded, not really listening anymore. I already knew what was at stake…my life and the lives of those I loved around me.

Blake took a hold of my face, gently lifting it so my eyes met his. His warm hands caressed my face, sending a single shiver of excitement down my spine. His eyes blazed with concern, mixed with a hint of excitement. I leaned into him, meeting my lips with his, such a small connection, but with feelings of the highest magnitude. He made me feel things I’d only ever dreamed.

Our kiss intensified and we both knew what was coming. This could very well be our last moment together for a long time, so we devoured every inch of each other as though we were about to take our last breaths. His touch left tingling sensations over my body as his fingertips danced over my highly sensitised skin.

I could only hope everything worked out and we’d have our time together in the future.

I was startled awake by my phone buzzing with a message. I glanced at the clock seeing it was 1:00 a.m. Who messages anyone this late? Only one person came to mind…Jacob.

After I’d left Blake’s, I went straight home and laid awake for what felt like ages. When it finally felt like I was drifting to sleep, I heard from the one person of whom I was most petrified. I picked up my phone and I was correct, it was Jacob.

Jacob: Hey, beautiful. I can’t wait to see you tomorrow. We have so much to talk about and sort out. I love you so much, please forgive me for how I’ve been acting. xx

 

      Wow! I was speechless. Was he delusional? It’s like that phone call never happened, but this is how it goes though. He would try hard to forget the fight or anything that happened, and act as though it never actually transpired. I knew what I needed to do, and that sick feeling I was able to push aside when Blake was with me was back in full force. I thought I might be sick, but I swallowed the lump rising in my throat and sucked up the emotions and did what I needed to do to pull this off. My shaky fingers robotically typed the reply.

Me: Looking forward to it. Yes, we do need to talk about things. xx

 

     Typing those kisses at the end were the hardest buttons to press. Two simple xx’s only because they represented a kiss, and I would prefer to never kiss, or even think about kissing him again. I knew it was going to happen and I don’t know how I’m going to go with that, but hopefully I could pull off the real girlfriend act. I wished I’d met Blake first because then I would never have had to have gone through any of this. My heart ached with all the, what ifs, I’d been experiencing lately. Nothing in life was easy and to get to the happiness we want and deserved, we needed to push through those trials and hurdles that come our way. This was one huge hurdle I needed to get over to be able to achieve the happiness I wanted and deserved.

Sleep finally met me again as I filled my thoughts with all the positives in my life.

My heart raced as I entered the hospital. I was here to give blood, nothing new to me, but today I needed to be able to pull off a miracle. I was there for the next hour or so then I had to go meet Jacob for lunch. Everything was moving so quickly that I was worried I would stuff it all up and not do what I needed to, and I would stay stuck in this almighty rut which was my life.