From Neglected Wife to CEO’s Obsession novel Chapter 61

Julia’s cries hit me like a punch to the gut.

“Remy, please come! Cindy—Cindy’s throwing up and breaking out in red rashes, I can’t wake her up, no matter what I do! What am I supposed to do?”

My panic spiked. I started fighting against my restraints all over again, tears streaming down my face.

Cindy had to be having an allergic reaction. She’s always been fragile, allergic to just about everything since she was a baby.

She needed her meds, she needed the hospital, she needed help right now.

All I could think about was getting free, getting to her. Cindy was the kid I’d raised, the little girl I’d poured my heart into. The idea of her suffering was unbearable.

I wanted to scream at Remy, to make him see that Julia couldn’t be trusted. If she’d ever really cared about Cindy, she wouldn’t have disappeared when Cindy was just a newborn.

I wanted to tell him Julia was only using him, that he needed to wake up and see who she really was.

But Remy didn’t let me go. He just yanked the comforter over my head, wrapping me up tight until I could barely move, darkness closing in all around me.

His voice was sharp and angry. “How could this happen? What did you give her? Didn’t I tell you not to feed her random stuff?”

He shouted, and then I heard an engine roar to life outside.

Remy was gone.

I was left tied up, a towel shoved in my mouth, smothered by the comforter. My leg throbbed, the wound still bleeding somewhere beneath the sheets.

Minutes crawled by. The air inside the blanket got thinner and thinner, dizzying me. Sweat drenched my skin and soaked my hair. Everything tasted salty and bitter.

There was a ringing in my ears that wouldn’t stop.

A voice in my head whispered: You’re dying.

He looked at me with those gentle eyes and said, “Avery, I know I’m not good enough for you, but I want to try. Will you be my girlfriend? I promise I’ll do whatever it takes to make you happy, to take care of you, to make you the happiest girl in the world.”

Back then, at twenty-one, I was all sunshine—young, pretty, full of life. Nobody knew how deeply I’d hidden my feelings for the boy in front of me, the one holding those flowers.

I took the bouquet, shy and smiling. “I believe you. But if you ever hurt me, I’ll leave—and you’ll never find me.”

Six years vanished in a blink. That hopeful girl was gone, replaced by someone broken and on the edge.

Thunder crashed outside, so loud it jolted me awake.

My phone started ringing, muffled but insistent, somewhere right next to me.

All at once, my head cleared. My phone was on the bed—under the comforter, maybe close enough to reach.

For the first time, hope sparked inside me. Maybe, just maybe, I could save myself.