STALKED AND STOLEN

Chapter 27

I couldn’t ever remember a time I’d felt as nervous as I did when I handed my fake ID card to the prison officer. He took it from me and inspected the passport, he even squinted at it. He held it up, looked at the photo, then at me.

I swallowed hard. I wasn’t really a rebel, I was scared. I didn’t live in this world so I wasn’t sure how to. He did it again, and on the third time his eyes met mine I was on the verge of fainting. It was cold out, but I felt a bead of sweat run down my forehead. Tommy was in prison for kidnapping me, of course, I wasn’t allowed to visit him. Of course, though, I couldn’t seem to stay away from him. I kept thinking about him. Especially that kiss.

“Miss Hart, he said. Visiting?” he dropped the ID onto the counter and with shaky hands I took it.

“Tommy Hart.”

“You family?”

“His sister,” I lied. “I have my visitors order.” I pulled out the A4 piece of paper from my pocket that said I was legally allowed to visit him.

The man took it from me and gave it a once over. He looked down at the clipboard he had and he wrote something on it. This was it. I was about to be caught. I’d soon be hauled off to jail and locked up for the rest of my life.

“To the right,” the guard said.

I stood staring at him for a lot longer than I should have.

“The door to the right. Go,” he pushed.

Like I’d been electrocuted, my body jerked and my legs moved. I grabbed the paper work and headed to the right where a guard opened a door for me. I walked into a plain room with beige walls and cream floor. The room was filled with around ten tables, surrounded by four chairs each. One woman in a short skirt smeared her lips with gloss, at another table three children sat with their father. A random mix of people filled the other tables, as we all waited for the prisoners. I took the one empty table at the back. My gaze darting around the room like I was some sort of criminal.

A loud buzzer sounded out into the room and a door at the far end opened. A mix of people walked out and separated, all finding the table where their visitors sat. Tomny was in the middle, I noticed him straight away. Damn he was so good looking. He looked like a proper manly man. Tall, handsome, with stubble now growing around his face. He had a red bib hanging over his shoulders and down his chest.

“What are you doing here?” he said. He took a seat at the table opposite me and interlocked his fingers. I found the grey sweater and joggers he wore rather sexy, and I had to tell my brain to quit it again. He was a criminal. A real bad boy, not just one from stories. He was the real deal.

I pulled my sleeves over my hands and bit my bottom lip. I was a nervous wreck, while he sat looking uninterested.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for this to happen,” I said. “It was my fault they found you, but it was an accident.”

Tommy shrugged nonchalantly.

“So, are you ok?”

A smile spread across his face and his blue eyes lit up.

“I kidnap you, and you’re now visiting me in prison asking if I’m OK. I think there’s definitely something wrong with you.”

I shrugged and nodded my head. I completely agreed with him.

“I don’t think you’re a bad guy. I just think you’ve dome stuff to survive.”

Tommy sat back in his seat, his head tilted as he studied me.

“It was that kiss, wasn’t it? You came all the way down here for more. You just can’t get enough.”

I felt my face blush and I looked away. My eyes landing on a guard who was patrolling the room and listening in on conversations.

“You wish,” I said, and then instantly cringed at my own reaction.

“Rat Boy called me. Said a little posh girl turned up asking for a favour for five grand,” he said.

“I couldn’t use my real name.”

He looked at me like a proud parent, like I’d finally came to the dark side.

“You look like you’ve been crying,’ he said. He sat forward again and put his hands back on the table.

I self consciously touched my face and shook my head, even though I had been crying not long before.

“My little brother’s took a bad turn. He’s in hospital. We’re all on edge, I guess.” I shrugged. “Why haven’t you told the police who put you up to it?” I changed the subject in case I burst into tears right there in front of him.

“I don’t grass on anyone.”

I slipped my hand into my pocket to pull out my little wallet.

“I need you to look at this and tell me if this is the woman you spoke to. You know, the one who asked you to...” I didn’t finish the part about kidnapping me. I slipped out a family photo that had been taken three years earlier when we were on holiday in America. Justyna and William stood behind myself, dad, Sam and mum. The memory made me smile, we’d had so much fun.

Tommy looked at me for a moment before he slid the photo to him and picked it up. His eyes studied the faces before he looked back up at me and nodded.

“Is that the woman who asked you to do it? The woman with the accent.”

“Yeah, that’s her.”

It cemented everything. He had confirmed it was Justyna. Even though I’d known, it still hurt.

“Right there, her with the red lipstick.” He tapped the photo and slid it back to me.

I frowned, confused for a moment. I picked up the picture and double checked the faces.

“This lady here?” I said. I pointed to Justyna.

“No. Her.” Tommy pointed a finger at the other woman in the photo.

My mum.

For a moment I sat silent, thinking he must have been mistaken.

“But you said she spoke with an accent.”

“She did. It was her. Her with the red lips, little woman.” He held his arm up, palm flat, like he was showing me how tall she was.

“No. You have to be mistaken. Look again.” I pointed at Justyna and he shook his head.

“It was her.” He pointed at mum again. “Definitely. She told me your dad would be gone, and the only people in the house would be the maids.”

My heart beat fast, pounding against my ribcage. It couldn’t be.

“Mum?”

Tommy’s eyebrows lifted and he sat back.

“She’s your mother?”

I nodded.

“Why’s your little brother in hospital again?”

I swallowed hard, before I jumped up to my feet, knocking the chair backwards and grabbing the attention of everyone in the room.

“I have to go.”

I snatched up the photo and legged it out of the room. I heard Tommy calling my name, but I had more important things to worry about.
-

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