STALKED AND STOLEN

Chapter 25

“How did you find out where I was?” I yelled. “Don’t you know they kicked his nana’s door through and had him on the floor in handcuffs?”

Dad stood across from me, fury in his eyes.

“If you’re going to search your kidnapper, who you supposedly love, up on my computer, you need to make sure you get rid of the evidence. What on earth were you thinking going to find that... thug!?”

Shit. I wasn’t tech savvy at all. Computers were a new thing to me.

“Dad, if you just understood his reasons. If you listen to me I can explain. This isn’t what you think. It wasn’t down to him. Justyna—”

“I will hear nothing more on this subject. He’s a thug and he belongs in jail, and I will spend every last penny I have making sure he stays there for the rest of his life.”

I hadn’t ever seen dad so angry. Actually I didn’t think I’d ever seen him angry at all. He was a gentle giant. My hero. But now, this had broke him.

“I swear, Zoe, if you do anything like this again I will lock you up in that room and you will never see the light of day again.” He pointed at me, another thing he had never done.

Tears burned in my eyes as I stared at him.

“I mean it.”

I wiped my eyes with my sleeve and stormed past him, through the door and out into the foyer. The whole thing was a mess. I headed for the nearest door, which was the library, and I swung open the door. I planned on crying into my hands until I could cry no more, then maybe read a book. Just hide away for a while, escape reality for a while.

I jumped back, not expecting to see anyone in the room. Justyna yelped, and William jumped back away from her. She fumbled around and fastened up the buttons on her blouse. They looked at each other like the kid who’d been caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

“Whoa. You two?” I said. It just fell out my mouth. “I mean, sorry.” I backed up and pulled the door shut. Justyna came running out behind me. But I ignored her frantic calling of my name, and rushed upstairs. I didn’t go to my room because I knew Justyna would follow me, and after what Tommy told me, I was afraid of her. I’d tried to tell my dad, and he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, so, as I always did, I stubbornly told myself that I would take care of myself. The only thing really keeping me from screaming it all from the rooftops was that she didn’t want me hurt, it was part of their deal. She only wanted the money.

I reached out for the door handle on Sam’s door, and jumped back again, my heart pounding in my mouth, when the door swung open inwards.

“Mum, you almost gave me a heart attack,” I said. I held my palm against my chest and blew up my cheeks with air.

“Zoe, Sam isn’t feeling too good.”

“What’s wrong?” My racing heart felt like it had stopped just as suddenly, when I saw a glaze in her eyes liked she’d been crying. I knew, we all knew, that Sam’s illness had had a major effect on mum, and she’d always struggled with coming to terms with having a disabled son. But she dedicated her life to him, and in my eyes she was a hero.

“Just not feeling too good. I’ve just gave him his meds, I’m going to get some lunch for us. I said we could watch that science show and eat in bed.” Her red lips lifted slightly into a smile, but her eyes reeked of sadness.

“Oh, well I’ll keep him company until you come back up.”

Mum sighed and leaned her small body against the door frame. She reaches out and rubbed my arm. She didn’t say anything, but it felt like she was thanking me. My family had so much on their plate, how could I tell them that Justyna, and possibly William, my dad’s best friend, had set up the whole ordeal I went through for money. I just didn’t know what to do about anything. I thought maybe I could get to the bottom if it myself, and prove that Justyna was a complete rat in disguise.

Mum walked past me and headed for the stairs, and I walked into Sam’s room and closed the door behind me.

“Hey  mum says you are aren’t feeling good,” I said. I smiled as I pushed his middle aircraft that hung from the ceiling and it swayed back and forth. He had boxes and boxes of wires and robot parts at a desk under the window, and his wheelchair sat empty beside it. My bare feet padded across the carpet to his bed where he lay. I wasn’t expecting him to look so ill, so I stopped before I reached him, eyeing up his lane complexion and greying skin on his arms and neck.

“Sam, are you ok?” I rushed to his bed side and he gurgled something like he was trying to speak. I placed my hand on his forehead and his temperature was through the roof.

“I feel like shit,” he mumbled.

I snorted and laughed.

“Don’t ever let mum or dad hear you swear,” I said.

“I need to tell you something, Zoe. Something is wrong.” It sounded like he gasped in a breath and he coughed.

I began to feel serous concern for Sam. He really wasn’t well at all. I wondered why everything in my life was going wrong.

“Is it about Justyna?” I asked.

His cough turned into more coughs, I couldn’t tell if he nodded his head or shook it, and my heart stopped when I watched his eyes roll into the back of his head.

“Sam!”

His body began to shake erratically like he was having some kind of fit, and I screamed at the top of my lungs, hoping someone would hear.