by S. L. Scott
“How will it get deleted?” she asked, confused.
“Maybe I’ve seen too many episodes of CSI, but please print it just in case.”
That earned him a half-weary, half-humored smile. “Okay. I can’t release it to you, Ben.”
“I know. Thank you.” His phone rang, and he fumbled to get it out of his pocket.
Grace.
“Grace? Where are you? Are you okay? You need to get out of there, baby, please.” Ben started to pace, holding the phone hard to his ear so he didn’t miss anything.
“I’m okay, but he’s mad. Really mad. Are you home?”
“Why are you whispering? Has he hurt you?”
“No, I’m locked in the bathroom. I’ll leave as soon as I can.”
“Get out of there or give me the address.”
Grace’s voice cracked. “I need you, Ben. I’m going to get out. Where are you?”
Keep it together, man. She needs you. “I’m at Chicago Memorial. Grace, please get out of there, baby. He planned this from the beginning.”
“The hospital? Why are you at the hospital?”
“Grace, just get out of there.”
“Ben, meet me. There’s a Starbucks nearby. Head toward North Michigan Ave. It’s two blocks west from you. I’ll be there in ten minutes. I promise.” She lowered her voice and her words sped up just as Ben heard a loud crashing noise. “Ben, I—” The phone went dead before she could finish.
“Fuck!” Ben looked at Jennifer, who was on the phone talking quickly with tears in her eyes. “The Starbucks two blocks west?” he shouted.
She looked at him like he was speaking nonsense but finally caught on. “Oh, out these double doors and through the exit straight ahead. Take a right. Yes, two blocks west.”
She held the phone away from her mouth and said, “I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”
Ben ran, needing to get to Grace, needing to get to that Starbucks. He didn’t think he had run that fast in years, but he hadn’t had something worth running for until now. Once he found the Starbucks, he ran inside looking frantically for Grace. She wasn’t there, but it had only been about five minutes.
“Welcome to Starbucks. Can I tempt you with a caramel latte today? It’s our featured treat of the day.”
That’s when it dawned on him. Grace. Grace loved Starbucks. That drink was her favorite. At the counter, his breath was heavy, but his mind focused. “This may sound strange, but is there anyone here who worked at this location three years ago?” Ben looked at his watch counting down the minutes. She had four left before he called the cops.
“Our manager opened this store just over six years ago. She’s in the back. You want me to get her?”
“Yes. Thank you.” He hoped the manager remembered something.
Ben walked to the window as he regained a steady breath again. He crossed his arms over his chest and scanned the street. This Starbucks was located at the corner of an incredibly busy intersection. The street was packed when the crosswalk signaled people to walk. If Grace was the only one hit, it must have been a little quieter than now. His gaze followed the mass as they crossed and that brought his attention to a hotel. The name clicked instantly. That was the same hotel Grace was supposed to stay at when she disappeared.
Ben spun around, searching the inside of the Starbucks. It all came together at once, painful crushing details: the hotel, Starbucks, the intersection, the closest hospital . . . all of it. This was where Grace was hit. She must have gotten out of her cab and decided to grab a coffee before checking into the hotel. She got the drink, but then she was hit by the taxicab. Barnes was at the scene, for some unknown reason, and carried her two blocks back. He must have left her luggage and purse behind. When did he remove her ring? When she was her most vulnerable—injured and unconscious.
“May I help you, sir?”
Ben was dumbfounded as the pieces fell too neatly into place for his liking.
“Sir?”
He turned, and his eyes met with an older woman’s eyes. The manager? “Yes, there was an accident in front of your shop three years ago. I was hoping you might remember it, or her. A young woman had just purchased a coffee and then got hit by a cab right out front.”
“Oh God. Yes, I do remember that. It was awful. Yes, she was lucky that doctor was there. The way he carried her to the hospital . . . it was so romantic. He was a true hero. I’ve thought about her over the years. I hope she made it. So tragic. She was a very pretty woman.”
“She did make it.”
The manager’s hand went to her chest in relief. “That makes me so happy to hear.” She smiled as she recalled the memory. “I’d wondered if I had just romanticized the whole thing. The doctor had been flirting with her when they were waiting for their coffees. She turned him down for a date. He was very persistent, but she said she was happily engaged. She told me she was engaged to the love of her life, which was the sweetest thing. I even drew a heart on her cup.” She sighed. “I remember that day so clearly, but wow, then he went and saved her life like that. It was incredible.”
“What?”
“Huh?” The woman looked confused.
“Back up to the doctor part. He asked her out . . . on a date?”
“Yeah, several times. She was very nice, but made it clear she wasn’t interested. I used to wonder if she fell in love with the man who saved her life. He was very handsome and worked at the hospital a few blocks east of here,” she whispered, playfully hitting Ben on the arm. “But, that’s probably my fantasy, not hers. I read a lot of romance novels, so I get carried away sometimes.”
“No.”
“No?”
“She never fell in love with him. She married the love of her life, and they lived happily ever after.”
Laughing, she said, “You should write a novel. You have that ending nailed.”
“Not quite, but I’m working on it.” Ben graciously said, “Thank you.” He walked back onto the sidewalk and looked at his watch. She should have been here by now. “Come on, Grace. Come to me.” He would kill Barnes if he hurt her—hurt her again that was.
He was furious. He couldn’t get the disgusting image of Barnes kissing her at that awards dinner out of his head. Mix that image with the thought of how he not only took advantage of Grace, but her life-or-death situation . . . the way he took her real life away from her—away from him. Ben was fuming. His hands fisted and his teeth clenched. His breathing deepened as he felt the anger surging; adrenaline rushed through his veins as if he was preparing for battle.
Barnes saw an opportunity and took it. He was a sick fuck who’d preyed on Grace when she was defenseless. Grace had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Barnes was a sociopath, and no one was safe at the hands of him. Ben would destroy him. He’d fucking destroy him.
“Ben!”
Ben was pulled from his thoughts and searched frantically for her. Where are you, Grace? Although he couldn’t find her, he could hear her. “Ben!” Across the street and down one block, he saw her running toward him. Relief. “Ben. Ben!”
The traffic flowed heavily and he couldn’t cross, so he stepped to the edge of the curb punching the button desperately hoping the lights would change. He needed to get to Grace.
Ben threw his arm into the air and waved to her so she would see him, but she turned away, looking over her shoulder. Not fifty feet behind her, Barnes was chasing her and gaining. What the hell?
“Shit.” Ben stepped onto the road, willing to fight the traffic to get to her, but a cab blew its horn and almost sideswiped him.
He heard Grace yell, “No!” She was shaking her head at him.
“Fuck!” He stepped back on the curb and pushed the button for the signal to change again.
She reached the corner across from him and time stood still. Their eyes met and their life together rolled like a movie through his mind: the first time he saw her, hiding behind her mother while Emily and he stood behind their mother, offering them a bas
ket of baked goods to welcome them as neighbors; their first kiss on her fourteenth birthday; the first time they made love in his room while his parents took Emily to band regionals an hour away. Those big hazel eyes had trapped him and his heart knew—she was it. Grace Elizabeth Stevens was the girl he would marry. She was his forever.
Even with four lanes of cars whizzing by, he could see the tears rolling from those beautiful eyes he’d spent his life loving. And just behind her, the monster grabbed her and her scream was silenced.
Ben ran.
With hundreds of witnesses around, Barnes grabbed her from behind and pulled her back.
Four lanes. He had four lanes to cross to get to her. To help her. To save her.
Even with horns honking and people yelling, he heard her above all else. He heard her crying out for him. A car slammed on its brakes and the driver shouted obscenities at Ben. He didn’t care. He just went around. By the time he reached the corner, they were gone. He searched in all directions before he spotted them one block down.
Ben ran.
On the other side of a crosswalk, Grace escaped Hunter’s grip, kicking him until he released her and fell to his knees.
She ran.
She ran as fast as she could, but fate had a funny way of taking what it wanted. Ben saw the white car coming but Grace didn’t.
No! No. Grace . . .
Screeching.
Screaming.
Squealing tires.
Silence.
30
Ben Edwards
Five seconds earlier . . .
There was no way Ben would lose Grace. Not again. He knew he wouldn’t survive if he did. He had to live for her, to save her from the monster. So even if it cost him his own life, his body moved in an extraordinary way until he ran to her, grabbed her by the waist, and spun around. They crashed, thudding onto the sidewalk, his body landing on top of hers as the car came to a stop where she was crossing seconds prior.
The maniac driver jumped out and ran toward them yelling, “Are you okay? Are you okay? I’m sorry. I thought I could make the yellow.”
Ben didn’t care about him. He held the only thing that mattered in his arms. Even though his arms were under her, breaking the fall, when he turned back to her, she was out cold. Tears flooded his eyes when he looked down at her. She must have hit the cement hard enough to knock her unconscious, or worse. No. No. Noooo. With his lips against hers, his world came crashing down around him. “Grace?” When she didn’t reply, he angled his weight off her, and pleaded, “Grace? Come back to me. Please come back to me.”
Closing his eyes, he put his ear to her mouth and tried to hear her breath. “Please. I love you, baby, so much,” he whispered again.
Just as one of his tears hit her cheek, Ben was yanked backward as Barnes shouted, “Get out of the way. I’m a doctor.”
“You’re a fucking psychopath. Don’t go near her,” Ben said, gaining his balance and scrambling back to protect her.
“She’s hurt. We’ve got to get her to the hospital,” Barnes said, holding his arms out dramatically toward the gathering crowd hovering around them. “Jane? Can you hear me? Jane?” There was no response so Barnes grabbed her wrist to check her pulse. “She’s not responding. Call nine-one-one.”
Ben knocked Barnes’s hand off her, and said, “Don’t call her that and never touch her again or I’ll fucking kill you.”
While Ben went down to protect her still body, Barnes threw his arms in the air trying to gather support from the crowd. “Did everyone hear that threat? Witnesses, Edwards, witnesses. Tsk-tsk. You forget she’s my fiancée. She’s marrying me.”
If Ben had been paying any attention to him or to anything other than Grace, he would have heard the audible gasps of the strangers surrounding them, but he ignored Barnes and all the others. He was focused solely on Grace.
“An ambulance is on its way,” a random person shouted.
Ben brushed Grace’s hair gently from her face and leaned down to rest his cheek against hers. He closed his eyes once more as his tears ran down her cheek. “Grace, I love you. Come back to me, baby. I need you. I can’t live in this world without you.”
Just as he felt the most delicate touch on the back of his head, Ben heard, “I can’t either, my love.”
Ben’s head popped up, and he saw her eyes were open. They weren’t wide, but they weren’t doe-eyed like he’d come to know more recently either. They were half-mast, but focused. A lot like . . . he didn’t dare get his hopes up. Not this time. It was dangerous to live in that level of optimism. But he did test the waters. “Grace?”
“Ben.”
“Are you?” He was afraid to say the words, but looking at her just a few inches apart, he had to. “Are you back?”
She smiled weakly, but it was glorious to Ben. Her fingers gently stroked through his hair, and she whispered, “I was always with you.” She tapped his chest with her other hand. “In here.”
Ben pressed his lips gently to hers as Grace wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back slowly. If they had been paying attention they would have heard Barnes swearing. But they didn’t because Ben and Grace were reunited.
When she tried to sit up, Ben told her, “Stay still. An ambulance is on its way. You need to be checked out properly. Do you remember anything beyond the last—?”
“I remember everything.” She smiled ever so slightly. “My life. My family. You, Ben. I remember you and our love. But I also remember the last three years and wish I could forget those. I’m so sorry. I’m so—” Tears slid down Grace’s face.
Ben kissed her, wanting to eat her words, not wanting her to ever feel sorry or bad over an accident she didn’t cause. “No, it’s not your fault. Please, just take it easy now. We have our whole lives to talk. Let’s just make sure you’re all right first.”
He started to get up off the pavement, but Grace grabbed his arm. “Don’t leave me.”
Lowering himself back down, he kissed her lightly on the lips. “I will never leave you. I’ll stay by your side forever. I promise. But I need to talk to him.”
Grace nodded, and rested back down. “He’s not worth the time we’ve wasted on him—”
“Stay here and don’t move. I have to go after him. He tried to change fate, but destiny wasn’t having it.” Ben got to his feet and saw Barnes maneuvering through the dispersing crowd. “Hey, Doctor. You can run, but the hospital knows what you did. You won’t have a job at Memorial or anywhere else after I’m through with you.” Ben raised his voice even higher to make sure the bastard could hear him loud and clear. “How much time do you think you’ll do for committing fraud and tampering with medical files?” Barnes took off running, and Ben began running after the coward.
He stopped though, refusing to leave Grace by herself. He would be happy if he never saw Barnes again, though he’d be even happier to come face to face with him in court to get Dr. Chicago Under Forty put away.
Ben hurried back to Grace’s side.
“Ben?” Grace reached for him as the sounds of sirens got closer and an ambulance came to an abrupt halt at the curb in front of them.
Kneeling back down, he took her hand, feeling it trembling in his. “I won’t leave you.”
She nodded once more as the paramedics rushed to her side, asking Ben to step back. He did but refused to let go of her hand. He heard terms like head trauma, contusion, and concussion being thrown between the paramedics. He thought once she opened her eyes, the worst would be behind them, but now after hearing her potential injuries, he was really fucking worried. He held himself together—something he had been perfecting over the last three years—for her.
Everything all for her. Forever. He wouldn’t fail her.
They lifted her onto the gurney, and Ben escorted her into the ambulance taking his rightful place by her side, holding her hand tightly in his.
He took a deep breath. The doors slammed shut and the ambulance left for the hospital.
&nb
sp; His Grace had found her way back to him.
She had found her way home.
31
Grace Stevens
Everyone said to know him was to love him.
But Grace saw it differently.
She loved him even when she didn’t know him.
Ben Edwards.
Grace involuntarily swoony-sighed just thinking of him. Her cheeks heated and she felt warm all over. Her thoughts were interrupted. “I’m thinking we can release you tomorrow if the tests—”
“Shhh, he needs the sleep,” she quietly scolded the doctor.
The doctor looked at Ben, who was sleeping on a chair in the corner of the hospital room. “Oh, yes, sorry,” he whispered. “I think the test results will be what we want. Given what happened, two hits to the head, you’re in great shape, a miracle for sure. I’m surprised your man over there didn’t have any broken bones, because I’m guessing his body shielded you from the brunt of the fall. So, you should be able to go home tomorrow morning.”
“Thank you.” Grace smiled then looked back at Ben. He had a few scrapes up his arm and on his face, with nasty bruises forming on shoulder and knee, but otherwise, he was fine.
When the doctor left the room, she slunk down on the bed and curled onto her side, facing him. She could watch Ben all day, all night even. He was so amazing inside and out. He is mine. Destiny.
He stirred several times, trying to get comfortable, but she could tell that wasn’t going to happen. The chair was too small for his frame. At six foot two, his torso barely fit in the old chair. She slowly climbed out of bed and tiptoed over to him, limited by her IV, but just reaching him. Taking his hand in hers, she called softly to him, “Ben? Ben?”
His head popped up in alarm. “What? Huh? Grace, are you okay? Is something wrong?”
“Yes, something is very wrong.” She smiled gently to help ease his nerves. “I can’t sleep, and I need your help.”