Emma falls on her knees, shaking her head. She stares at the screen one more time before anger fills her and she chucks her phone across the wall, smashing it to pieces.
I grab her hand and place it against my chest where my heart is. "It's okay," I say. "We'll get through it together."
My natural instinct is to protect her. To go to her father and smash his face against a glass door. I know Emma wouldn't want that though.
How could a father do this to her own daughter? According to the text from Lucy, Emma's father has set her marriage with a guy named Dwayne. Not because Dwayne is a nice guy or that he cares for Emma. No, he set it up because Dwayne's father owns a big company back at Williams Square and they're willing to merge and become business partners if he gives Emma to them. He's literally sold his daughter, like she means nothing to him.
Emma looks up at me, tears ruining her mascara. "You don't know what my father is capable of," she says. "I can't risk your life for my sake."
I give her hand a squeeze before grabbing her chin and pulling it in the direction of my face. "We're in this together. Don't worry about me."
She blinks for a second before resting her head against my chest and wrapping her arms around me. I run my hand across her hair before kissing the top of her head and whispering calm words to her.
Emma stands looking back at the wall, her phone having caused an indent against the wall. "I'm sorry," she whispers. "I'll fix that."
I wave my hand in the air as I pull her body against mine. "Don't worry about it."
A rapid pounding against the door sparks our attention. I point in the direction of my bedroom and she hurries off. I swing the door open and the pounding of my heart that was there a second before stops when I see Richard.
I'm about to take a deep breath and relax when he pushes me inside and locks the door. "They're checking inside the houses. You need to hide because her mum has given a description of you and the picture the sketch artist has drawn looks identical to you. I just saw it down the street when I was making my way here."
Emma takes a few steps forward when she hears Richard's voice and then comes and joins us when she realises there's no trouble. Well at least for now.
"They've shown your picture to quite a few people and everyone has denied seeing it before. They asked Gabby about you too and she said she'd never seen someone like that before," Richard says in panic. "Everyone in town knows you're in some kind of trouble and they're trying to protect you, but you have to hide now."
The sirens go off outside and Emma and I look back at each other. I hold her hand and pull her to the back door signalling Richard to join us. We exit the back door to our garage.
"There's small door under the garage, we can hide there. You just need to reverse the car so we can get in and then drive the car over to door so we can hide again."
My father had made that when he built this house. He would always say that I. Such a small town, it was vital to have a place to hide in case something went wrong. He never used it and today I get that chance.
When Richard reverses my dad's ute, I pull the door open that leads to an underground room. Richard throws a torch down to me and disappears before reappearing with a bag of food. He then drives the car over the door.
I grab Emma's hand and walk down the stairs, shining the torch against the floor. When we get here, Emma stares around in shock.
"It's bigger than your living room," she says. "And everything is new."
Just before Emma came to town, I removed all the old furniture and cleaned the place up. I don't know why because I always assumed I wouldn't use the place but here we are.
I place the bag of food down and head back to the door. I push the door open just a little bit before it bumps into the bottom of the car, just enough for me to hear what's going on.
I can hear someone knocking on the front door and the front door opening. I can Richard talking but I can't hear anything else. Emma presses her ear against the door to get a better hear at what's going on.
I pull the door shut when I hear the sound of footsteps towards the garage. Emma's eyes open in panic.
"There going to catch us," she says. "I'm so-"
I place a hand over her mouth just as the garage door opens.
"How long have you lived here?" The police asks.
"My whole life," Richard replies.
I signal Emma to stay quiet as I remove my hand from her mouth. The sound of steps around the garage worries me. All he needs to do is look under the car to notice there's a door that leads to a secret underground room.
"How long is this going to go for?" Richard asks.
"As long as we find Emma," the police says. "Her father is furious."
"Are you sure she's been kidnapped?" Richard says.
"Of course," the police replies. "Don't question what I've told you. I know how to do my work."
The door pulls shut and they leave. I press myself against the wall and let go of the breath I didn't know I was holding. Emma does the exact same.
"Do we stay here or go back up inside the house?"
I hold her hand. "I don't know, I guess Richard will let us know."
We go back down the stairs and Emma drops herself on the lime green couch. She looks devastated and I know this can't be easy for her.
Sirens continue down the street. We got lucky this time. If Richard hadn't come this time, we definitely would've gotten caught.
I grab a packet of chips and throw it in Emma's direction. "Eat."
She shakes her head. "Not hungry."
Although what she really means is that she can't because I can hear her stomach rumbling from here.
I walk over to her and sit beside her by the couch, grabbing the packet of chips. I pry it open a shove a piece in my mouth. I turn and kiss her cheek before holding out a chip for her. She turns her heard to face me. She frowns first but then smiles before opening her mouth and eating the chip.
"It's fine," I say. "As long as we've got each other, it's fine."
Emma smiles when I say that. "We'll be okay," she whispers before grabbing me by the shirt and leaning in to kiss me. Her lips feel warm against mine, sending sensation down my body. Her hands travel down the back of my spine and I notice how much I crave her touch. My body literally reacts to every touch of hers, no matter how small or big. I just want her hands all over my body and I don't want her to stop.
She leans against me, placing her head on my chest when I fall against the couch. She grabs the packet of chips that has since fallen abandoned on the table. She takes turns placing a chip in my mouth and then hers. I smile as she reaches the last chip into my mouth. I wrap my mouth around her finger before she pulls her finger back and wipes it on my shirt. "Ewww."
I smirk. "Eww? You kiss me," I say as I tickle her.
She laughs before jumping off be and hiding behind the table. When I take a step to the left, she moves to the left. "Please don't, Andrew," she says.
I reach forward to grab her but she runs to the tap and fills a cup with water. "Andrew, stay away," she says.
I laugh. "Or else what?"
When I launch for her, she flings the cup in my direction, wetting my whole entire shirt and the front of my jeans.
I smirk as I grab the cup off her and place it against the sink, I pull her body against mine and press her back against the door. "Andrew, please."
"What were you saying?"
She smiles. "I promise I won't do it again."
I press my lips against hers and kiss her hard. My hand reaches for her shirt and before I know it, I've flung it off her body and onto the ground. She leans against me, her body pressed tightly against mine as she grabs me by the neck and pulls me into an even deeper kiss. It's rough and seductive and I very much like it. I pull my shirt over my head and throw it against the couch. She closes her eyes for a second taking a deep breath and then opens them. Her hands reach for my bare chest and I can see by the way she touches me that she likes the touch, almost craves it like I do.