Chapter 51- Ella's POV 

I ran for my life, as fast as I could towards the front door, still hearing John banging his fist on the basement door. That would get him a bruise very soon, I mused in my state of confusion. I had to get out of here before he figured a way how to get out of there. My fingers fumbled for the lock and I was already starting to heave my sigh of relief as I started opening the door. 

But there was one problem. The lock wouldn't budge.

It was locked. 

Frantically, I shook at the door, but obviously that did not work either. John had locked the door and left no key. So we were both kind of trapped. The problem was, I didn't know my way around here like John did. 

Heart beating six hundred times a second, I looked around for a key to open the door. Maybe John would have left it here or something, I hoped. But a tiny voice in my head said, "He's no idiot. All of the keys are probably carried around with him all the time." I shook my head, desperate, and focused my attention on a window at the side. It too was bolted shut. This time I could not resist from rolling my eyes. I had been so stupid. How did I ever trust John? 

Aimlessly, I wandered towards the kitchen, feeling for my phone in my pocket. Luckily I had thought of changing before going down to the basement earlier, so I was not stuck looking like an idiot in pyjamas now. There was no time to change or anything. 

Coldness swept over me as I realized that my  phone was not in my pocket. I stopped, trying to remember what I had done with it. The clock ticked silently, adding to the tension there was in the room already. The image of me guiding myself down the stairs to the basement using the flashlight on my phone suddenly gazed up to me. Of course. I had taken it with me, and when I had been locked downstairs, I had tried to call for help, but there was no signal down in the basement. And when John had dragged me up the stairs, I hadn't been prepared, so my phone was left down there. Great. 

It's amazing how many details that you had forgotten, you start remembering while you're stressed. Details that are particularly irrelevant right now. I stood in the kitchen, looking forlorn, until I noticed a particular detail which I had never seen before. The back door. 

My eyes widened at the sight of it, and I rushed for it, anxious to get out, particularly because I realized that the sound John had been making had stopped, and that drove me suspicious to wonder what he was doing now. Had he found a way out? 

My thigh throbbed as I arrived in front of the door but I ignored it. I pushed the door to open, and it was a tense moment and a very anti-climax one when the door did not budge either. My blood ran cold, but then I heaved a sigh of relief when I saw that the door had a latch. I turned it, and eventually the door opened. I ran out the door at quickly as I could, and turned round the front, seeing that the back was nothing but woodland. Not that the front was any better. I knew that there was nowhere in particular that I could run to, the cottage did have others surrounding it but all of them were deserted. The rest of the road was just a long, ring road, which no one could possibly get away from except by car, because it was too far. But the situation I was in forced me to do anything I could to get out of this place. 

And so I started walking, knee throbbing, towards the left of the road, where I knew that John and I had come from. I walked and walked for a good ten minutes, until at last I had to stop for a break, because the pain that was shooting through my leg made me want to howl out loudly. I closed my eyes, knowing that I couldn't walk much anymore. I was injured and could not force myself to ignore the pain any longer. I looked around me, realizing that I was still in the middle of nowhere. 

It was all peace and quiet until suddenly there was a sound of breaks screeching. I turned around. The sound was coming from a car behind me. My eyes narrowed as I tried to make out who the driver was. The car was unfamiliar. My spirits lifted on the inside. Maybe someone would help me get out of here? 

I continued to stare at the car until it stopped right by my side. And there in the full light, I could now see who the driver was. My heart sank. No, it can't be. Not after I managed to get away. 

I started backing away slowly, even though my thigh was making it difficult to, but he was already getting out of the electric silver Range Rover which, I repeat, I had never seen before. I swallowed hard as his shadow blocked out my vision. A smirk played on his lips. 

"Wow, I'm impressed. You actually managed to run away," he said. I froze and blinked slowly. As soon as I opened my eyes I found myself being grasped in his arms. "Bitch," he whispered in my ear, making me shiver. I wanted to get away, but I was frozen in his grip. He led me to the passenger seat door and opened it effortlessly, with one hand holding the open door and the other clasping me from my shirt. He pushed me inside, put my seatbelt on and closed the door, turning to his side to get into the driver's seat. Somehow he knew I wouldn't get away as he did this. 

He closed the door behind him and turned to me, flexing his arm towards me. His thumb ran over my bottom lip, making me quiver once again. He knew this because a satisfied smug look settled on his face. "I just don't get you, Ella. You hate me, and yet you want me," he said, his green eyes flickering at me. He seemed to have forgotten that Edward and Nathan were on their way over here. I didn't remind him. It was better this way.

"I don't," I said, finding my voice, and referring to him saying that I wanted him. 

John chuckled and shifted closer to me, his seatbelt still unfastened. "Yeah, you do," he whispered against my lips, and then retreated back to his seat properly. "I would make you realize how much you want me, but we're in a car and all." He paused, making my heart skip a beat as I understood what he was saying. "Not that the car's the problem," he added as an afterthought. "Anything could work. But, with your boyfriend on his way here, it's best to get the hell out of here." 

My heart sank for the umpteenth time. I thought that maybe with the fall, it might have slipped his mind that Edward had found out the truth and was coming to the cottage for me, together with Nathan. But I guess not. 

My mind ran over something which he said right before he mentioned Edward. What was he planning? I shuddered at the thought, feeling a wave of nausea. I could feel that John was doing his best to make me want him again, and to be truthful, he was doing a good job out of it. But it didn't mean that I wanted to be with him. Never. Not after what he'd done. 

He wants you to want him, not want to be with him, as in his girlfriend. I mentally shook my head at this thought. I knew what he was implying. He wanted me to want to sleep with him.

And how the heck had he managed to get out of that basement? 

And why wasn't he driving his stupid blue car that I had stupidly thought was his only car, and also stupidly arrived here with him in?

I felt a warm hand touch my face and got back into focus. John's hand was holding my face close to his, and he still had the same smirk plastered on. "But it won't hurt for a prequel," he said. I was about to ask what the hell he was talking about, but he shut me up by crashing his lips against mine, leaving me no time to react. He turned it into a make-out session before even one second went by. I wasn't really contributing to it, but I was kind of forced to, because A, he was one of the best kissers ever and was holding me too close and tightly for me to let go, and B, I was scared of his reaction if I were to push him away. 

After what seemed like forever, John pulled away and leaned back against his seat, catching his breath and leaving me to catch back mine. Ugh. The only reason why it was disgusting was because I knew the real John now. 

"Somehow, I still like you," John muttered. He started the car and I noticed him look at me out of the corner of his eye. "So seriously, did you think I'd let you go so easily?" His words came out in a rush and I could see that he was still struggling to speak following our so-called make out session. He started driving away. 

My heart thumped loudly in my chest. Where was he taking me? Would Edward manage to find me or not? I looked around, trying to see if John would be taking another road instead of the one we went through, but there was only this one passageway. 

"How did you get out?" I blurted out. 

John laughed out loudly. "Did you think I wouldn't have a key to my own basement? I admit, at first it slipped my mind, but then I remembered that I have a spare key of everything in my wallet. And also in each room."

I cussed silently, understanding that if I'd looked around the room enough, I might have found the key. But knowing John, he had probably hidden it under a floorboard or something like that. "What about your car? What happened to the blue one?" I asked. I thought that maybe if I distracted him with questions, he would go on driving slowly and we would meet Edward on our way. 

"Oh yeah. That car I use for everyday. This one, I use when I'm on a mission. I leave it at the cottage on purpose, no one knows about it." John paused, focusing on the road in front of him. I watched him as he drove. Who knew that he'd put on a mask for such a long time? "By the way, you shouldn't have pushed me down the stairs," he continued. " You're gonna have to pay for that later."

I gulped and looked away. It was so sad that I had actually managed to get away and he caught up with me just because of my injured leg and his super speed car. I should have hidden in one of the deserted cottages, I thought with a sigh. 

"Did your brother really kill my dad?" I mumbled. It had been at the back of my mind ever since he'd mentioned it and I really, really wanted to know the truth. 

John didn't answer immediately. I heard him take a deep breath before he did. "He didn't... kill him. But yeah, he instructed someone to do it, and paid for it. My brother had a conflict with your father, and lots of debt. The rate of interest was high and Anthony couldn't pay it off. So he did that instead."

"But they never found out who killed him," I whispered. I turned to look at him once again.

"No, my brother never said who the killer was. But he was caught and convicted. And that chapter was closed off, kind of. But when Edward told me that he had seen the perfect girl, and pointed you out, it became another story. I hated Edward for that... even though it wasn't really his fault." He shook his head, and for the first time, I found myself sympathizing with him. For once, he wasn't hating on Edward for no reason at all. He had admitted that it was not Edward's fault this time. 

I decided to change the subject. I was so tired, I could not focus on talking about my father now. "What about Nathan and Beth? In what way did they help you?" 

John shrugged. "It was Beth who first started helping me, and she hated me for it. She always said how much she disliked me and I thought maybe it was because she knew something about me, but then once, after you and Edward got together, I went to a club and she was there. So since you had just started seeing Ed and made it clear that you wanted him, not me, and he made it clear that he wanted you, not her, I confronted her. It turns out that she didn't hate me much, she was just putting on an act because she liked me, and was embarassed about it since she had been Edward's girl." 

I swallowed the bile that had risen to my throat. Beth had had a thing for John. "So she decided to help you out?" I croaked. 

John laughed for the second time. "No, she decided to date me."

My neck almost snapped with the agile way that I turned it. "What?!" I exclaimed. 

"Yeah, so I wasn't that obsessed with you. Big shocker right?" John said with a chuckle. "Beth and I kept low profile, just like you guys. But then I asked her to help me out, and she wasn't happy about it. She went ballistic when she realized what I was doing. But by then, she was kind of forced to help me. I knew a lot about her and she knew that." 

"Are you guys still together?" I asked. 

"Yeah," John said, turning the steering wheel as we reached a road which split into two. I hoped for goodness that he would take the right turn. Thankfully he did.  "It's only over until I say it is. Even though she told me that she doesn't want to be with me anymore, several times."

I leaned back against the seat, disgusted. "But you were with me," I muttered. 

"So? I can do whatever I want. Besides, you're not with Edward anymore, and you begged me to be with you." 

"But you wanted to be with me when I was still with Edward," I protested. "On my birthday." 

"I know," John grinned and winked at me. "Beth was furious about that. She went to talk to Edward to tell him that she was leaving this school that evening- that was her revenge on me, or so she thought. But then she told Edward that she was seeing someone, and that was me. She still wanted her revenge though. When Edward kissed her that evening because he was heartbroken about you, she kissed him back. Surely you remember." 

I nodded. Of course I remembered that on my birthday, Edward had broken up with me, and then kissed Beth. My brother had told me about it, and I'd been very angry about it. But all of this had a new twist to it. Beth had been seeing John at the time. 

"So why did she leave the school after all?" I asked, referring to Beth deciding to quit working at our college following the photo that the principal had received of Edward with her. 

"That was my punishment for her. She broke up with me and I sent that photo. In a way she was relieved to leave our college, because she was kind of let off the hook from following Edward. And by the way, I never told her about you and Edward," John said, glancing at me. "I only told her about his past. So that's why she was angry when she found out. She knew Edward was seeing someone but she didn't know it was you." 

I felt my head starting to spin with all of this sudden information. "But you two are still in a relationship?" I asked once again. 

"On and off, yeah. But she kind of hates me, so I'm sure she's only with me because I say she has to be. Poor girl, I kind of ruined her life." John said this without any kind of sympathy. 

I closed my eyes for a moment, letting this sink in. I didn't know where we were heading. How much time had passed and was Edward still too far away? It was useless of him to track my location, because my phone was back at the cottage basement, and there was no signal there. I only hoped he and Nathan had taken this road and not some other one which I didn't know about. 

"What about Nathan?" I asked. "How did he end up helping you?" 

"Oh yeah. That was much more straightforward. Nathan drew a list of suspects, and he realized it was me- I mean yeah, it was kind of obvious I guess. So I had to shut him up. He too didn't want to help me, and decided to rat me out today." 

"Oh," I mumbled. I had figured that that was what had happened. 

"Professor Barnes knew too, you know. That's why he hated me," John revealed. I looked up at him. 

"How did he know?" And why didn't he stop you, I added under my breath. 

"He figured out I had a particular interest when I didn't let him say no to him employing me. I insisted, and dug a lot of dirt about him and the school. He's hated me ever since," John said in a relaxed manner. Psycho. 

So...John knew the same "dirt" that Malcolm knew. But did Malcolm know John?

"Did my brother ever work with you?" I blurted out. 

"No, as if," John said, giving me a pointed look. "He's your brother, Ella."  His tone sounded just like a teacher's would if he were giving the class a lecture about something wrong someone did. It made me remember that John actually was a teacher. It was all too crazy.

I shook my head. Everyone I knew had been involved in this stalking thing, so I thought that my brother might have been, too. And I had only slept for four hours the previous night, and was super stressed, so don't blame me. 

"What do you want from me?" I finally asked John after a moment's silence. 

"I just want you to help me, and do a better job than the others did. I need this, Ella." John paused as the sound of a car engine was heard. He ignored it and looked at me. "Of course, I plan to get to know you much better while you're doing this." He raised his eyebrows at me, looking at me so suggestively that I was forced to look away. He wanted me for his own benefit. "I know you want to, like I said." 

I didn't reply, knowing that he was being serious about all of this. I focused on the road in front of me, where to my surprise, a car was appearing from a distance. A black car. 

Edward's car is black. 

I squinted, trying to see better. John was still ignoring the sound of the car's engine, which was clearer now. I guess he thought he could just sweep past any car, after all, no one would recognize him in this car. 

The car swept closer and closer, until I realized that there wasn't any space for two cars on the road. John realized this too and tried moving the car to the side and focus his attention on who the driver was. The black car continued moving in the middle of the road, and I could see that John was panicking. He lost total control of the car when he recognized the driver. 

It really was Edward. 

After John lost control of the car, I didn't see anything else. All I knew was that there was a loud crunch and a thud. We had just bumped into a tree. 

I heard the screeching of brakes and someone opening a car door. Someone shouted out my name and my spirits lifted. I'd know that angelic voice anywhere. 

It was Edward. He'd come to save me. 

Heeeeey :) so I kind of promised that I would update after my exams, I'm too busy right now. But I started writing this morning and updated!!! I updated by mistake earlier, sorry for that, I unpublished it since it wasn't finished, but here it is now :) 

I hope you like it. Please vote and leave me a comment ;) what do you think of all of it? And what do you think about what John said? 

Please do leave feedback, reading your comments and seeing your votes is my favourite part of all of this :)

Photo: John (looking awesome, I must admit)

Happy New Year everyone!

Dedicated to 01Hayley10 for being so supportive :) thank you xxx