Kidnap My Heart

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Emma

Kidnap My Heart

Chapter 38: Emma

Taylor walked into Will’s room the minute Will walked out. I put my finger to my lips and motioned for her to be quiet while I checked to make sure the coast was clear. I couldn’t get caught telling her about my plan.

“I think they’re all downstairs,” I whispered to Taylor upon my own return. There was no one in sight, and I’d even gone halfway down the stairs to see if they were anywhere near us. They weren’t.

Taylor frowned. “Why are we whispering?”

“Because I have a plan,” I said. I’d ditched the hushed tone, replacing it with a moderate one. I felt weird whispering continuously.

Her facial expression went from curious to incredulous in about, oh, two seconds flat. “After everything you and Will have been through, you still want to leave him? Emmy, I just don’t understand you. What happened to your feelings for him? You’re crazy about this guy! I know you are. You can’t still think you’re faking this.”

I shook my head and tried to speak, but she cut me off.

“No, if you’re gonna go on about some crazy escape plan, I don’t want to hear it,” she exclaimed. “I’m not gonna stand by and let you do this again. Their dad will just take us again or do something even worse to us. Just let him have his ransom and then he’ll let us go and we’ll be free. And then you can choose whether or not you still wanna be with Will.”

“This is not a crazy escape plan,” I snapped, cutting her off. She hadn’t even let me talk. She had no idea what the plan was, and she was already throwing it under the bus. “It’s a perfectly rational rescue plan.”

“Rational. I don’t think you know the meaning of rational.” She shook her head, and her blond tresses shook back and forth. “Just let it go. Please. Don’t do this again. Don’t do this to Will. If he was devastated before… I can’t even imagine. He loves you. He. Loves. You. You’re gonna break his heart. And if I leave with you, I hurt Eric in the process, and I can’t do that. You don’t hurt the people you love.”

I ignored the sting I felt all over my skin and said, “You don’t let your dad keep the people you love in captivity, either. Look, I don’t want to hurt Will. I know he doesn’t deserve this. I know he deserves better than this and better than me. And I get why you stayed and I get what you feel. I do.” I didn’t even have to explain why. I hadn’t told Taylor about the extent of my feelings for Will, but it was pretty obvious. It was written all over my face whenever Will was in the room, and when he was so close I could feel his heartbeat, there wasn’t a damn thing I could say to deny what I felt.

“Then why are you doing this?” she asked.

“Because this is no way to live,” I said. “Hidden in the shadows, away from civilization—it’s not okay, no matter what we feel. We have a home and a life and people who care about us. It shouldn’t be one or the other.”

“It won’t be when they let us go. We can have both, Emmy.”

“Not the way I want.” I shook my head. “I want Will. Not Will and his leech of a dad. You want Eric. Not Eric and his gold-digging dad.”

Taylor furrowed her eyebrows. “What do you mean?”

“Charles is planning on using Will and Eric to get a steady stream of money from our parents. He sees them as the keys to our family fortunes. If they marry us one day, they marry our money, too. I’m not about to let that happen. Charles is cold, greedy, and dangerous. I don’t want him in our lives.”