God, he just wanted this night over and he wanted Madison to be safe and sound. This plan had to work with Brad taking the bait and everything going as planned.
Flint changed positions and began to wonder if all this was for nothing. His knees and hips had begun to burn painfully, but he tried to ignore the agony and remain vigilant. His gaze hadn’t wavered from the cabin’s front door.
A soft rustling noise sounded behind him and suddenly something hard crashed into the back of his head. Pain slashed into him as stars flashed in his vision.
Madison. Her name screamed in his head just before utter darkness claimed him.
* * *
There had been four of them hiding in the woods. And all four had been taken out thanks to Brad’s friends. They were all unconscious and bound. The chief of police and Flint must have believed he was some kind of fool. He’d known this was a setup from the get-go. There was no way Flint McCay would travel out of town and leave his precious Madison vulnerable.
The friends who had helped him would alibi each other for tonight and Brad’s girlfriend would alibi him. He’d known it was a seteup, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to take advantage of the situation.
Any threat had now been neutralized and all that was left was dealing with the stupid bitch who was trying to destroy his life. Right now there were no witnesses and after he dealt with Madison and left here there would still be no witnesses.
Madison wouldn’t live through this night. In fact, she wouldn’t live through the next thirty minutes. He approached the cabin door, already excited by what he was going to do to the woman inside.
Boldly, he knocked on the front door. There was no way Madison was peacefully sleeping inside. She’d be expecting him. Sure enough, the door crept open.
Her big blue eyes widened as if she was surprised to see him and before she pretended to slam the door, he shoved it open. “Honey, I’m home,” he said gleefully.
* * *
For the past several hours Madison had wanted to scream with the nerves that twisted her stomach and kept her half-breathless.
She’d paced and she’d sang in an effort to keep her nerves under control. She’d checked the knives beneath the sofa cushions at least a dozen times as she’d waited for Brad to arrive.
When the knock had fallen on the door, she’d fought the survival instinct that had told her not to answer. But she had answered and now she was facing her monster.
She backed away from him. “What are you doing here, Brad? Are you here to beat me up and rape me again?”
“Definitely, and that will only be the beginning.” His eyes gleamed with a sickness she remembered all too well. “I liked beating you up and I definitely enjoyed raping you so much I’m now here for seconds.”
Her heartbeat became a rush in her ears. She’d thought she was strong enough to face him, but as she continued to back away from him her shaky legs threatened to cast her to the floor.
She prayed for the door to burst open and Flint and the others to come to her rescue. Hadn’t he already confessed to the previous crime? Hadn’t she already gotten enough from him?
He laughed. “I see you looking at the front door. Waiting for your boyfriend or maybe Dillon to come in to help you? I’m sorry, but they weren’t invited to this party of two and in any case, they’re all unconscious and tied up right now.” He laughed once again, the maniacal sound echoing in the room.
Still, his words disturbed her far more than his laughter. Unconscious? Tied up? “Wha...what did you do to them?” Oh, God, was he lying to her? Had he killed them all?
“Don’t worry about it. Did you really think I wouldn’t know this was a setup? Did you really believe I was so stupid? All you really have to do is know that they aren’t coming to your rescue. Nobody is riding to your rescue. It’s just you and me, baby, and we’re going to have some fun.”
Flint... Dillon? Nobody was going to rush in to save her from this man? Terror gripped her heart, her very soul. With a gasp, she ran for the bedroom. She slammed the door and for the first time realized the door didn’t have a lock on it.
In desperation, she pressed her back against it and dug her heels into the carpeting. Damn, she should have run into Flint’s bedroom where at least there was a phone. In here she had no way to summon any help and she knew the cabin was isolated enough there would be nobody to hear her screams. But she did scream as Brad twisted the doorknob and shoved against the door.
He was going to get in and then what? What had he done to Flint and the others? She’d die if anything horrible had happened to Flint. This thought brought a bubble of hysterical laughter to her lips. What was she thinking? She was going to die tonight anyway.
The hysterical laughter turned into another scream as Brad once again pressed to get inside the room. His strength was far greater than hers and he managed to get his head and shoulders into the door. “Come on, Madison, let’s have some fun together. Don’t you remember how much fun we had last time?”
She desperately tried to keep him out, but as she realized she couldn’t, she released her fragile grasp on the door and instead scrambled to the opposite side of the bed.
Brad stepped into the room and grinned at her. “Just give in, Madison. Did you really think I was going to allow you to ruin my name? My life?”
“Just leave now and I’ll take it all back. I’ll tell Dillon I lied about you, that I was mad because you didn’t want to go out with me. I swear, Brad, I’ll do that if you just turn around and walk out the door.”
“It’s a little too late for that, Madison. The only way to make things right is if you go away.” He faced her from across the bed.
“Then I’ll leave town. I’ll even leave the state. I promise you I’ll pack up and be gone first thing in the morning.” She would promise him anything right now to get him out of the cabin. “Please, Brad, just leave now.”
“Please, Brad,” he mimicked her. “Say it again, Maddy. I love it when you beg.”
“I swear to you I’ll recant and leave town if you just leave me alone,” she exclaimed. She was half-breathless with her fear of him. Her heart felt as if it was going to beat right out of her chest.
“I told you. It’s just too late for any of that,” he said. His eyes gleamed once again and he grinned widely. “Besides, I’ve missed you.” He leaped over the bed toward her, but his foot somehow tangled in the bed skirt and he fell to the side.
She ran past him, raced out of the bedroom and toward the front door. If she could just get outside, then she could hide in the woods until some sort of help could be summoned. She could hide until Brad gave up and left.
Before she could reach the front door he grabbed her by the ankle. As she fell to the floor she wrapped her arms around her belly to protect her baby.
The fall momentarily stunned her. Her baby. The words screamed in her head. Oh, God, if Brad managed to kill her tonight, he would also assure the death of the innocent life that grew inside her.
Brad still had her ankle and he began to drag her closer to him. She used her other foot against him. She kicked and twisted to free herself from his grip.
Finally, her foot connected and slammed him in the side of the face. He laughed even as she slipped free of his hold.
A sob rose up inside her as she quickly scrambled to her feet. Brad laughed again as if this all was some kind of a playful game they played. Only in this game the loser died.
He quickly moved so he stood between her and the front door. “Scream again, Madison. It excites me so much when you scream.”
One of the knives hidden beneath the sofa cushion was only a foot or so away from where she stood, but she was afraid to grab it in her current breathless state.
When she did grab it she had to make sure she was strong enough to use it without him taking it away from her. Now wasn’t the time, but she pr
ayed the time would come and she could use the knife effectively against him.
And if she couldn’t do that, and if she couldn’t somehow run away from him, then tonight she would die.
Chapter 14
Consciousness came to Flint with an agonizing pain in the back of his head. For a moment he couldn’t make sense of where he was or what was going on.
Darkness surrounded him and he was lying on his side. What had happened? Why did his head hurt so badly? As he tried to raise his hand to touch the painful place in his head, he realized he couldn’t. His hands were bound behind his back.
Panic clawed inside him as everything came into focus. Madison! Her name shrieked in his head. What was going on? How long had he been out? And where were Dillon and the other men?
He managed to maneuver himself to his knees and worked at trying to free his hands from whatever bound them. “Dillon!” He cried out as loud as he could. What in the hell was going on? “Dillon?” There was no reply.
Every nerve in his body electrified. He struggled to his feet as his hands twisted and turned in an effort to get free. He stumbled several steps toward the cabin, all the while calling out to Dillon and the other men.
Even if he managed to get inside, there wasn’t much he could do with his hands tied behind his back. He yanked his wrists and gasped as he finally felt them give just a little bit. He twisted and pulled more frantically despite the pain he was causing himself.
“Flint?” Dillon’s voice came from somewhere on Flint’s right.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m over here,” Flint replied.
He heard Dillon stumbling through the woods toward him. At the same time Flint managed to free one of his hands, and then the other.
Dillon appeared out of the darkness in front of him. His hands were tied behind his back, as well. “What the hell happened?” Flint asked as he worked on the ropes that bound Dillon’s hands.
“Somebody obviously got the jump on us,” Dillon replied.
He’d just managed to free Dillon when Madison screamed. The cry echoed off the trees and iced Flint’s blood.
Thankfully, both men still had their weapons. They drew them and then raced for the cabin. Before they reached the front door, not only did Madison scream once again, but Brad roared.
How long had she been inside alone with Brad? What had happened to her while Flint and Dillon and the others had been unable to respond?
Thank goodness the door was open, otherwise Flint would have gone through the wood to get to her. He ran through the door with Dillon at his heels and both men froze.
Madison sat on the floor, her dress torn and tears trekking down her cheeks. Brad was also on the floor some distance away from her with a knife protruding from his thigh.
“Dillon, arrest this bitch,” Brad yelled. “Look what she did to me. Arrest her!”
Flint raced to Madison’s side and helped her up off the floor. “Oh, God, Madison, are you okay?” He raked his gaze over her from head to toe, grateful not to see any discernible wounds.
She threw her arms around his neck and clung to him. Her entire body trembled and all he wanted to do was take away any negative emotions that might be rushing through her.
“I stabbed him, Flint. I got the knife and I stabbed him,” she said. There was a hint of pride in her voice. “I got him. I got him all by myself.”
“Did you hear her? She admitted it. Arrest her and get an ambulance out here,” Brad exclaimed as he managed to make it to his feet. Flint knew the knife wound probably hurt like hell, but it was obvious it hadn’t nicked any artery. In fact, it had almost stopped bleeding.
“I’m going to make an arrest, but I won’t be arresting her,” Dillon replied as he yanked Brad’s arms behind him. “Brad Ainsworth, you’re under arrest for rape and attempted murder to name just a few charges.”
“I didn’t rape her,” Brad replied angrily. “Okay, I’ll admit we had a consensual relationship. That bitch wanted me. She told me Flint was going to be out of town tonight and she invited me over. Look at her. She’s pregnant and it’s my baby.”
Flint’s blood boiled over. He couldn’t stand even looking at the man. He stepped away from Madison and before Dillon could stop him he punched Brad in the jaw. Brad yelped. “That’s my baby, you sick bastard,” Flint said. “She was pregnant with my child before you raped her.”
At that moment Juan and Ben came into the cabin. Ben used Flint’s phone to call for an ambulance and backup while Flint, unable to listen to or look at Brad again, took Madison into her bedroom.
He pulled her down to sit by his side. “Are you sure you aren’t hurt?” He took her hands in his.
“I’m okay. He’s going to jail now, isn’t he?” Her beautiful eyes gazed into his.
“He’s going to jail for a very long time,” Flint replied. “It’s over, Madison. It’s finally over and you can have your life back.”
She leaned against him. “Right now all I want to do is stay in here until he’s gone and then I want to sleep.”
The ambulance finally arrived and as they remained in her room he told her about all of them being hit over the head and tied up.
“I was so afraid he’d killed you all,” she said. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m perfectly fine now that I know that you’re okay,” he replied.
Flint knew in the coming days Dillon would be looking for accomplices. There was no way Brad had taken them all out by himself. He had to have had help.
Dillon finally appeared in the doorway. “He’s gone and now I need to take Madison down to the station to make an official statement.”
“Can’t it wait until tomorrow? She’s exhausted,” Flint replied.
“No, it’s okay. I’d just as soon get all this behind me as soon as possible.” She stood and held out her hand to Flint. “But could you please come with me?”
“Absolutely.”
As they rode in the back of Dillon’s patrol car, Flint’s love for her nearly choked him. This night could have ended so much differently. If she hadn’t hidden the knife...if Brad had managed to get it away from her...if...if...
The ifs haunted him. However, her strength awed him. She’d slayed her own dragon and he hoped in doing so she found a peace she’d been lacking since the original attack.
When they reached the police station Dillon ushered them into his private office and Madison began telling him what had occurred while she’d been alone with Brad.
As Flint listened to her, he was almost grateful Brad was now in the custody of the law; otherwise, Flint would have beaten the man to a pulp.
“I guess you didn’t hear him confess to beating and raping me,” she said to Dillon. “So the mic wasn’t worth anything.”
“On the contrary, I might not have heard it with my own ears, but...” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a miniature recorder. “Anything that was said in that cabin was captured on tape. Don’t worry, Madison. We have him and no amount of his parents’ money or status is going to get him out of this.”
“You were amazing in doing this,” Flint said to her softly. She squeezed his hand and smiled and then continued to tell Dillon how she managed to get the knife out from beneath the sofa cushion and stab Brad in the leg.
Her eyes flashed for a minute. “I would have liked to stab him in his black heart, but at least by stabbing him in the leg I stopped him from coming after me. I was going to get up and run outside and hide in the woods until somebody came to help me.”
Flint squeezed her hand. “I’m so damned sorry I wasn’t there when you needed me.”
“But you were...and you are.” She squeezed his hand back.
In that moment he could scarcely keep his love for her inside him. He wanted to fall to his knees in front of her and tell her how very much he loved her and the baby that grew inside h
er.
He wanted to take her up and into his arms and kiss her until the end of the world. Instead, he bit the inside of his mouth to keep his love words inside him.
Tomorrow he would be telling her goodbye and that was the right thing to do. He couldn’t be selfish enough to proclaim his love for her knowing that he could never be her dream man.
An overwhelming weight settled on his shoulders as they returned to the patrol car for Dillon to take them home. For whatever was left of this night, it would be the last night they spent together.
Dillon’s crime scene men were finished in the cabin and they were finally all alone. “I’m so exhausted,” she said as she collapsed on the sofa.
“Just think, tomorrow when you wake up you can claim your life back. You no longer have to think about leaving Bitterroot and I’ll bet Sharon down at the grocery store will give you your job back.”
“Before that can happen I feel like I need to sleep for about the next twenty-four hours.”
“Then that’s what you should do,” he replied.
She got up from the sofa, her weariness evident in the forward slump of her shoulders. She gazed up at him.
“Flint, would you please sleep with me tonight?” Her eyes held a silent appeal.
He wanted to be strong and tell her it wasn’t a good idea. It was important that they gain some distance from each other. But as he thought of everything she’d been through, he couldn’t tell her no. Surely there would be no harm in them sharing his bed for whatever was left of the night.
Minutes later they were in her bed and she immediately moved into his arms. He was only grateful that she wore a nightgown and he had on his boxers.
Her head found the hollow of his neck and her breathing was a soft whisper against the underneath of his chin. He drew in the sweet, floral scent of her and tried to memorize how her body fit against his. She fell asleep almost immediately, obviously exhausted by what she’d been through, but it took him much longer to finally drift off.
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