Back For You

Chapter 34

Joe’s POV

I stand looking at the house as it goes up in flames before my body is able to react. I run back towards the house and stop outside the front door. I cough once before going in and over to the hole in the floor where Chelsea is. I kneel down and try my hardest to see her.

“Chelsea!” I shout down to her. No answer. “Chelsea, answer me!”

I cough again as the smoke starts to get to me. Pieces of wood start to fall from the ceiling and go straight through the floor and into the basement. 

“Chelsea, take my hand!” I shout as I put my arm down so she can take it. “Damn it, Chelsea!”

I wait a few moments for her to take my hanging hand but still nothing happens. I sit back and swing my legs round before jumping down into the basement. I stay low to the ground as I look hard through the flames for signs of Chelsea. My eyes fell on a body that's slumped against the far away wall at the other side of the basement and a surge of relief powers through me.

“Chelsea!” I call to her but she doesn’t move.

I look above at the big hole in the ceiling, judging wither or not I can get across to her in time before anymore wood falls. I cover my nose and mouth with my hand and run to her. When I get to her, I crouch down next to her.

“Chelsea…look at me.” I gently turn her face towards mine. “Open your eyes for me…please, baby.”

I search her face for signs of any movement but there's nothing. I let go of her face and stand up. I look round at the burning pieces of wood that lay around the basement and notice that one particular piece of burning wood was sitting very close to a few cans of petrol.

“Shit!”

I bend down and pick Chelsea up so I'm cradling her in my arms. I start to walk back over to where I had jumped down from when I notice a door frame behind an old bookcase. I walk quickly over to it and put Chelsea back down on the floor. I stand up straight and pull the bookcase away. How did she not notice this door was here?

I open the door, pick Chelsea back up, and walk through the newly opened space. I walk along a narrow corridor that's lit with small lights and looks to be brand new. I continue to walk and come to a stop outside another door. Hopefully this leads to the outside.

I bend down and reach for the handle before opening the door. I push it open with my foot and step through. I stop walking and my eyes widen.

“What the hell has he been doing?” I mutter as I look round the room.

I put Chelsea down on the floor by the door, close the door back over, and lock it before looking at everything that's in the room. Newspaper clippings and photos fill up three of the four walls. Maps are laid out on a desk in front of television and computer screens opposite from where I'm standing.

I walk over to the desk to get a closer look at the televisions and computer screens. I look closely at the TV screens and notice that they are all camera angles from inside Chelsea’s house. He knew what she was doing, where she was, and who she was with.

I look at one computer screen that has folders placed everywhere on the desktop background. I look at the names on the folders and one catches my eye immediately.

“A.K Anderson” I whisper to myself before opening it.

As I wait on all of the files to load, I turn back to the TV screens. Why was he spying on her? I shake my head before turning my attention back to the computer and look at some of the things that are stored in the folder. I click on the first item in the folder and let it load. I look round at Chelsea to see how she is before voices come from the computer.

“Have you told Joe your pregnant?” A woman says and my head snaps back to the screen.

“Do you think if I told him I was pregnant, I would be here alone?” Chelsea replies.

“No, but you have to tell him.”

“I can’t. Even if I wanted to do so, how do you think she'll react to the fact that I’m having his first child and not her? She’d kill me!”

“I think you should tell him.”

“I want to but I told him I didn’t want him anymore.”

“What are you going to say to Ryan?”

“I don’t know. I’ve only known him a week and I work with him!”

“He’s not going to be happy.”

“I know he’s not.”

I stand looking at the screen and stop the video. I close it down and scroll down looking through the files. I stop scrolling when pictures appear in the folder and open one of them. I look at it and see that it was taken inside one of the bathrooms from inside the house. Chelsea's kneeling down next to the bath as the girls sit in the bath playing.

Anger starts to build inside me and I stand up straight. I look down at a map on the table. Red and blue dots are placed all over it - London, Manchester, Germany, Spain, Poland. Everywhere. He’s been following our every move.

I look at the walls covered in newspaper clippings and photos but they aren’t of Chelsea or the girls…they're of me.

“Why has he been following us?” I ask myself as I look closer at the wall to my right. Everything on this wall is placed neatly compared to the other two walls. Everything is lined up as if he's trying to hide something. I walk over to it and carefully peel back a few photos.

“So you found out my little secret?” Ryan says suddenly.

I turn and look at him as he stands by the desk I was just at. “How did you get in here?”

“I built this place, so I know where every hidden door is. Looks like you only managed to save one out of the three you came here for though.”

“You’re sick and twisted.”

“I don’t think I am.” I watch him sit down behind the desk and look up at me. “I see you’ve found my little stash.”

“You call hidden cameras in my fiancée’s home a 'little stash'? You’re sick!”

“Fiancée is she now?”

“Don’t change the subject! You took photos of her when she was out shopping and videos of when she was in the shower!”

“Like I said, my little stash.”

“The sickest thing is that you took photos of her while she was giving my daughters a bath!”

“They aren’t as sick as what this is.” He closes everything down on the computer and opens up a video, letting it play away freely. “Did she let you have sex with her like this?” He asks as I watch the video of him and Chelsea.

“Does she know you recorded that? Oh wait, no she didn’t because she doesn’t know you’ve been following her or that you put cameras up inside her house!”

“Inside voices, please.”

“Where’s Aimee?”

“Who?”

“You know who!” I snap.

“Oh her! She is currently hidden away with one of my dear friends. Maybe you know him.” He stands up and walks over to me with a smirk playing on his lips. “Martin.”