Never the Same

Chapter 26

"Well, when get out of here I'll let you hear it."

"Who says you'll be getting out of here?" Terence asks, the lights coming back on. "No one is going anywhere until this plan is complete." He walks into the room with a mobile phone in his hand and stands in front of me. "Now, Kaylee, your passcode for your phone."

I glare up at him. "I don't have one."

"I beg to differ." He kneels down and shows me my phone, the screen clearly telling me to enter the passcode. "Passcode. Now."

I say nothing.

"If you think I won't lay a finger on you, I will."

Silence.

"Fine. Have it your way."

Slap.

The sting on my cheek is evident with the sound that echoes throughout the room. I flex my jaw but continue to say nothing.

"You're the only one making this hard for yourself, Kaylee. Give me the passcode and this can all be over with."

"No," I finally voice.

"Zero. nine." Allison unexpectedly calls out.

I look to my right where I hear Allison's voice come from and my eyes widen when I see her. Just like me, she's bound to a post and is looking battered and bruised, dried blood clearly visible on the side of her face. "Allison, don't."

"Kaylee, I'm sorry but none of us know how dangerous he'll get." She rests back against the post and shrugs. "Give him the passcode and have it done with."

I close my eyes and press my lips firmly together.

She's right. We don't know what Terence will do to us if we don't give him what he wants. It's better to play along with this whole thing and pray and hope we make it out of this sooner rather than later.

"Fine," I whisper. "Zero. Nine. Zero. Eight. Five. Six."

He types the passcode in and smiles. "Now, that wasn't so hard. Thank you."

He stands up and starts walking around while looking at things on my phone. He scoffs a couple of times before stopping abruptly.

"That can't be," he says.

I gaze up at him and he looks back at me with nothing but the look of rage on his face.

"How did it happen?" He asks.

"What?"

He moves swiftly and crouches down in front of me, holding my phone up to my face. "This."

I squint at the screen while trying to read what's on the screen.

From: LUCA MADDEN

We did it!! We won the case! Nadia lost. I'm so happy right now. Thank you for standing by me during this whole thing when I was close to losing the plot. I can't wait to join you in London so we can celebrate all of our happy pieces of news. I'll see you soon. I love you xxxx

My breath catches in my throat.

Luca did it.

He and his team actually did it.

After all this time . . . the arguments . . . the uncertainty . . . the worry . . . the fear . . . the dread . . . Luca won and Nadia lost. We're free from her and all her lies. Luca gets to breathe easily at night knowing that Nadia can't make a play for Louisa again. A court has deemed her unfit to look after her own daughter and an absent mother. Most likely a liar, too, which will rub salt into the opened wounds she has.