One and Only

Chapter Sixteen

***Please read with caution there could be triggers here; abduction, beating, torture, loss of a baby. ***

Wednesday before the Saturday Wedding

Desai was making last-minute stops at the bakery dropping off the personalized cake toppers for both the wedding cake and the groom's cake. The pair for the wedding cake looked just like them, dress, tiara, and veil, with Thomas's white tie and tails. For the Swiss chocolate groom's cake, she had a Loki. She had also made some small changes to the bouquets, boutonnieres, and corsages then went in search of silk stockings and other lingerie to go with her dress.

She was unaware that she was being followed by someone who had their own agenda.

He followed her as she went from store to store with a smile as bright as the sun and it seemed to him, not a care in the world. He had bided his time watching her from a distance slowly mapping out her routine until ... She was finally alone.

He, after a stint in jail for injuring her and getting fired to boot, had patiently waited and watched, and now was his chance. He parked his van two spaces up from her car.

The first time he had seen her was when she had walked into the office in Atlanta two and a half years ago. He couldn't keep his eyes off her. It was love at first sight and he knew that if he could somehow get her attention she would fall for him too. So, he had begun to make sure he would be in the same area as she was as often as possible. Elevator. Break room. Copy room. She had always smiled and been nice to him.

Then she had gone to England.

And came back with that man!

Clearly, she was in love and so was that actor. How does a person know if an actor is just acting or if their emotions are real, he wondered as he absently rubbed his wrists.

Travis was jolted back to reality as she walked past his van. He could tell she was preoccupied with her tasks and would pay no attention as he quietly opened his door. He knew Desai and that man were to be married on Saturday and that they had been together for over a year – he didn't care as far as he was concerned he would simply get her alone and she would fall for him – that was his plan.

He would keep her with him until she did.

Besides, he liked his women a little feisty – at first anyway. But Desai was different. He would have to approach her a little differently than he had the other women in his life. He knew just the place to keep her until she saw reason.

"Desai?"

The sun was shining, she was smiling, she had had three full days of no nausea, and the sky was a beautiful blue that reminded her of Thomas's eyes. She had everything she needed for the wedding and was standing up from placing them on the back floorboard of her car when a man said her name.

"Yes?" he looked familiar and she knew she should know him, but she couldn't place him.

"I wanted to congratulate you on your upcoming wedding. Glad to see you happy." The words tasted bitter in his mouth, but he had to say them, and he had to get her alone to have his plan work.

"Thank you!" she said with a huge smile. "I know I've seen you and –"

"I'm Travis Seahorn and I want to apologize for that stupid stunt with the rig. Could we sit and have a coffee or a soda at the café over there?" She followed the direction he was pointing and nodded. What could it hurt? It was a public place after all. Desai thought as she closed the door to her car. "Sure, let me lock this up."