Read Online Away by Megan Linski - Free Book Online Page A

she’s smiling at me as she does so. She has no idea what’s going on, even now. I can’t do this, I think once again, but as soon as I do so I hear another voice whisper beside me, Yes you can. Noah’s watching out for me, staying by my side. I need him to give me strength, to get me through the rest of this. Pretending he’s right beside me dissolves some of my fear. Noah would never let anything bad happen to me. I sit down and force myself to be still as I look at the tablecloth, the paintings on the wall, anything so long as it isn’t my father.
    “You took a long time in there. Are you feeling well?” he asks me, pretending to be concerned. It’s not enough to fool me. I laugh and say, “I don’t know, how would you feel if a crazed maniac captured you for no good reason other than he wants to be selfish?”
    “None of that here,” he says, and he actually looks nervous. “Just please have dinner with me. We don’t want to cause a scene that we have to clean up.”
    Clean up? A frightening thought crosses my mind. Would he actually hurt Dolly, to prevent my escape? Is that why he had the gun? Did he even have the gall to use it? “You wouldn’t,” I say.
    “I would do anything for my daughter,” he says. He goes to reach for my hand but I sharply jerk it back. He looks hurt, but I don’t give a damn. I want to hurt him as much as he has hurt me.
    “If you would do anything for me you would’ve spent time with me when I was growing up, not kidnap me when I’m a full grown woman,” I spit at him. “You had no time for me all these years, and all of a sudden you want to get to know me.”
    “You don’t understand,” he says. “Your mother kept me away from you. I tried everything I could to see you, but she turned the police against me.”
    “So you capture me instead of trying to contact me yourself? You’re ridiculous.”
    “I admit that these are extreme measures-”
    “Extreme? You’re a lunatic!” I shout.
    He sharply hisses at me and says, “Quiet! I don’t want to leave here!” 
    “Why shouldn’t I be loud?” I say, and I raise my voice, hoping someone in the kitchen will hear me and get the message. “Why shouldn’t I?”
    “Rosemary,” he says as a warning, and he opens his coat just slightly enough so I can see the handle of the gun. I bite my tongue, forcing my voice to go lower as I say, “You lost your chance a long time ago, and after what you’ve done I’m not giving you another one. Not now, not ever.”
    “Here you are!” the happy voice of Dolly sings over us as she puts down a hamburger for Jack and what looks like ravioli for me. A familiar smell reaches my nostrils and I remember...spinach cheese ravioli, my favorite pastime dish here at Frank’s Town.
    “Can I get you anything else?” Dolly asks cheerfully.
    A phone, the police, maybe a kitchen knife so I can get out of this myself, I think, but I force myself to stay silent as Jack says, “We’re good. That’ll be all we need.”
    “Well you just holler if you’re in need of help,” she says as she begins to walk away. I look down at my dinner and my stomach lurches. I haven’t eaten in over twenty four hours. I know I’m starving. But even as I go to pick up my fork my stomach wriggles and flips. I feel nauseous and hungry at the same time. Jack looks at me expectantly and asks, “Are you going to eat?”
    I pick up a fork and cut into one lightly, putting bits into my mouth slowly. Jack begins devouring his meal and I stare at him, watching the carnage and feeling quite like that hamburger at the moment.
    “So tell me this,” I ask, barely done with one ravioli as he’s more than halfway through his meal, “How exactly did my mother keep me away from you? You had visits with me all the time when I was little.”
    “I did, and I always enjoyed them. They were the highlight of my week,” he says.
    “Yeah. And you know what? You stopped coming.”  I put down my fork and glare at