Jackson
As I dragged Kurt's lifeless body into the shadowed corner of the room, the reality of our situation sunk in. The low hum of engines outside told me that Jake's people were closing in. Moira's eyes darted around nervously, and I knew we had only minutes to cover our tracks. I kicked Kurt's body further back until it was hidden behind a stack of wooden crates, out of view from the doorway. There wasn't much time.
"Are you ready to play your part?" I asked Moira, who looked up at me, her expression quickly shifting to one of feigned helplessness.
She nodded, already adjusting her posture to look more vulnerable. "Tie me up, like we planned," she whispered, voice trembling a bit, but her eyes glinting with a dangerous spark. "Make it look convincing, Jackson. I need Jake to buy every second of this."
"You're sure about this?" I muttered, pulling a length of rope from my bag and glancing over her face.
She nodded firmly. "I'll do whatever it takes. Just make sure you don't mess this up."
Once she was secured and her breathing had evened out to match the appearance of a frightened, "captive" woman, I pulled Laura up from where she'd been forced to the ground, making sure to keep my grip tight on her wrist. She didn't want to come with me at first and was proving stubborn, but I wasn't in the mood for her tantrums. I dragged her till she complied and used her legs.
We kept running until she stumbled a little, her exhaustion obvious, and I could feel her strength waning with every step.
"Please," she muttered, barely above a whisper. "I need… I need a break."
I gritted my teeth, casting a quick glance down the hallway. The footsteps outside were getting closer, but we had a few moments to spare. "Fine," I hissed, yanking her toward a small side room nearby. "Five minutes. And don't try anything stupid."
She sank down onto the cold floor, her body sagging against the wall as if every ounce of energy had been drained from her. Watching her now, vulnerable and exhausted, I felt a flash of anger rise up, mingling with memories that still burned like embers. She thought she could just run from me, thought she could disappear, stab me in the back, and leave me to die. But she had underestimated my resolve.
"Did you really think you could get away with it?" I sneered, leaning against the wall opposite her. "After everything we had, after all those years together… did you think I'd just let you go?"
Her eyes flicked up to mine, defiance shining through the exhaustion. "You left me no choice, Jackson," she replied, her voice steadier than I'd expected. "You… you hurt me, over and over. And you expected me to stay?"
"Hurt you?" I laughed bitterly, shaking my head. "Funny how you call it 'hurt' when all I wanted was to keep you close, to protect you. All I ever did was love, care, and protect you." I leaned closer, letting my gaze bore into her. "The night you tried to kill me… do you even remember that?"
She looked away, pressing her lips together in silence, refusing to meet my eyes. The memory of that night surged forward, vivid and searing. I'd woken up, gasping for air in a hospital bed, my vision blurry, and my entire body throbbing with pain. The only thing I'd wanted in that moment was her, to see her face, to understand why she'd done it. But when I'd asked the nurse where my wife was, I was met with only blank stares.
***
"Where… where is she?" I'd managed to croak out, my voice barely a rasp.
"Who?" The doctor asked.
"My wife. Laura. She's my wife, she is here, right? I want to see her. Please let her in."
The doctor had glanced at me with a mixture of pity and concern. "I'm sorry, Mr. Stanton. We… we haven't seen any woman around here claiming to be your wife. The neighbor who found you unconscious said there was no one else in the house."
I'd stared at him in disbelief, the words feeling like a punch to the gut. "You're lying. She was there. Laura… she was there." But no matter how many times I'd asked, no matter how desperately I'd tried to explain, no one had seen her. She had vanished, leaving me behind with nothing but the ache of betrayal and the bitter taste of anger.
When I'd been released from the hospital three months later, fully recovered but seething with unanswered questions, I'd searched everywhere for her. I'd checked every place we'd ever been, called every number I could think of. I even tracked down her aunt, but by then, she'd already moved out of state, leaving me with nothing to follow. Days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months, until I finally gave up.
But fate has a twisted sense of humor. One day, while dropping off a client at the airport, I caught a glimpse of her. Laura, the woman who'd stolen my heart and then shattered it without mercy, walking through the terminal with her hand clasped tightly in another man's… Jake's. The sight had sent a surge of white-hot rage through me. She'd run from me, betrayed me, and yet here she was, happy and content with another man.
From that moment on, revenge became my sole purpose. I was going to make her pay for every ounce of pain she'd caused me. Tracking her down, planning this… it was all I'd thought about since that day. And with Moira's help, everything had fallen into place perfectly.
***
Snapping back to the present, I let my gaze settle on her, watching as she shifted uncomfortably under my scrutiny. "You know," I murmured, leaning down until my face was inches from hers, "none of this would've happened if you'd just stayed where you belonged. With me."
Laura's defiance flickered briefly, but I could see the fear in her eyes. Good. She should be afraid.
"You didn't have to do this," she whispered, her voice barely audible. "You could've moved on, Jackson. You could've left me alone. You were not in love with me. You were obsessed and left me with scars, traumas that took a lot of my essence to heal." She let out pitifully.
I clenched my fists, feeling a fresh wave of anger. "Left you alone? After everything we shared? After you tried to kill me?" I took a deep breath, forcing myself to stay calm. "You made your choice, Laura. Now you're going to live with the consequences."
Just then, something caught my eye… a faint, blinking light coming from her necklace. I narrowed my gaze, and realization dawned like a thunderclap. The pendant was blinking… a tracker.
"You…" I growled, grabbing her roughly by the shoulders. "You were tracking me? Trying to deceive me?"
She barely had time to respond before my hand came down, slapping her hard across the face. Her head snapped to the side, and I saw tears well up in her eyes, but I felt no remorse.
"Did you really think you could outsmart me?" I spat, ripping the necklace from her neck with a sharp tug. I stared at it, the tiny blinking light that had betrayed us. "Nice try, Laura," I muttered, gripping it tightly. "But it's going to take a lot more than this to get away from me."
With one last look of disgust, I flung the necklace down the hallway, watching as it clattered to the ground and lay there, blinking uselessly in the darkness…