by Cynthia Eden
He saw her up on the corner. She was standing with her shoulders hunched. Oh, Christ, please, don’t let her be crying. Gwen’s tears tore him apart. “Gwen!” Chance yelled, cupping his hands around his mouth to try and make his call carry to her.
She jerked and looked back. He saw her swipe her hand over her cheek. Wiping away tears? When she saw him, Gwen lurched forward. She rushed toward the street.
He was already running after her. “Gwen, stop! Let me explain!” He had to explain this epic fuck-up before Gwen left him.
He heard the growl of an engine. Saw the flash of lights turn on up ahead and then a van was racing down the road.
Gwen was in the middle of the intersection. The sign on the street corner was flashing for her to walk, but she wasn’t walking—she was running.
And the van was rushing straight for her.
“Gwen!” Now fear was in his bellow because he was too far away from her. “Gwen, get out of the road! Run, run!”
The van barreled toward her. Chance ran as fast as he could. He needed to get to Gwen. He needed to—
The van roared through the intersection and he saw Gwen fly toward the bank of snow on the sidewalk. She fell into that snow.
The van raced away.
“Gwen!”
Fear stole his breath. He slipped, fell, then hauled ass to her. His whole body was shaking. Did the van hit her? Did the van—
She groaned. She was still in the snow.
He reached down to her, and Gwen rolled toward him. Snow fell off her arms and her legs.
“What was that guy’s problem?” Gwen mumbled as she brushed the snow off her face. “Didn’t he see me? I was right there!”
Chance hauled Gwen to her feet. His shaking hands ran over every inch of her body, searching for an injury.
Gwen can’t be hurt. She can’t be. I need her. Gwen can’t be hurt!
“Stop it!” Gwen swatted at his fingers. “I jumped out of the way. The snow cushioned my fall. I’m fine.” She shoved at his chest. “Just let me go.”
He held her even tighter. Chance buried his face in the curve of her neck. “Just let me hold you. Give me a minute.” A minute to get his fear and fury under control. A minute to realize that he hadn’t lost Gwen. She was right there, with him. Safe. Alive.
Her fingers fluttered over his shoulders. “Chance?”
“I couldn’t get to you fast enough.” His hold was probably crushing her. He should ease up. He just—couldn’t. Maybe he needed another minute. Maybe twenty more minutes. “The van was coming right at you. I couldn’t get to you fast enough.”
She pushed against his shoulders. Finally, Chance managed to ease back, just a few inches. Her expression was worried. “I’m okay,” Gwen said softly. “It was just an accident, I’m—”
His phone rang, vibrating in his pocket.
Gwen’s jaw tightened. “That had so better not be my father again.”
Chance kept one arm around Gwen while he pulled out his phone. His gaze swept the area. The van was long gone.
That van had been familiar. I saw it before, back at—
“We’ve got a problem,” Lex said when Chance put the phone to his ear. “A big damn one. You need to get down to the police station with Gwen because it sure looks like Ethan may not be the only threat facing your lady.”
“Yeah, yeah, I got that part already.” Because that van—that dark van—it had been the same one he’d seen the other night at Gwen’s place. He knew that make and model. The guy had just tried to run her down. He tried to kill Gwen. “We’re on the way.” He put the phone back into his pocket.
“Chance?” Gwen stared up at him.
Oh, hell, but he hated to do this… “Baby, that wasn’t some distracted driver.” He went back into the road. Pointed to the marks that were so easy to see in the falling snow. “The driver was waiting for his moment to attack. When he saw you, when you made a good target, he came right at you. He accelerated and he swerved to try and hit you. Not to avoid you.” The marks on the road told a clear story.
Gwen’s arms wrapped around her stomach. “That guy wanted to kill me?”
Kill her…or, at the very least, hurt her. Badly.
“Why? What have I done? Is Ethan doing this? Did he hire whoever was driving that van?” Now she looked down the empty road. She shivered. “I want this over.”
So did he. “We need to get to the police station.” There was a camera positioned right above the intersection. Faith would get them access to that camera. They’d find that bastard.
And I will stop you. Because you aren’t going to take Gwen from me.
***
At the police station, Gwen stared through the one-way mirror into the interrogation room. Ethan was seated at the table, and he seemed to be staring right back at her.
“He can’t see you,” the detective told her. Faith. The detective’s name was Faith Chestang. She’d been waiting when Gwen arrived at the station. Faith had worked for Gwen’s father years before, and Gwen had been glad to see a familiar face at the PD. “He knows someone is out here, of course,” Faith added, “but the guy has no idea it’s you.”
One of Ethan’s wrists was handcuffed to the table.
“Why is he doing this?” The why was driving Gwen crazy. “We broke up. People do that all the time. They break up, and then they move the hell on.” They didn’t put cameras inside the homes of their exes. They didn’t—jeez, what had he done? Hire someone to mow her down in that van?
“You know his ex-fiancée died in a car crash.” Faith’s voice had turned musing.
Gwen didn’t look away from Ethan. It was hard to think that she’d once had sex with a man who now wanted her dead.
“I did some digging on that incident,” Faith said. “And I’m not so sure it was an accident.”
Her words pulled Gwen’s gaze off Ethan. “What?”
“She was driving a brand new car. Her brakes shouldn’t have gone out, not without some help. If we still had the car, I’d get my techs to go over it…because I’d lay odds we might find some new evidence in that case.”
Gwen rubbed her aching temple.
“Men like this…obsessive stalkers…they don’t just suddenly develop the condition overnight. Ethan Barclay has done this before, in other relationships. I’d bet my badge on it.”
And she understood why the detective had brought up Ethan’s ex-fiancée. “You think he killed before.”
“Some men have a hard time taking ‘no’ for an answer.” Faith stepped closer and stared through the glass. A badge was clipped to her right hip and a gun holster was on her left. “His lawyer won’t let him talk to me. Not to any cop. She’s pulling every string she’s got so the guy can get out of here as fast as possible.” Faith glanced over at Gwen. “I’m going to be very honest with you. It doesn’t matter how much power Will has in this town, the judge can’t keep Ethan locked up forever. He will get out on bail. And when he does, you need to be prepared.” There was a dark warning in Faith’s eyes. “He’s locked on you, and I don’t see him just turning away now.”
He’s going to come after me again. And to think, she’d tried to push off her father’s protection. “My dad was right all along.”
“Yeah, well, when you tell him that, Will is going to be even harder to live with.”
Faith kept speaking so easily about Gwen’s father. Suspicion nagged at Gwen. She’d wondered about the two of them before…
Once again, Faith looked through the one-way mirror. “Chance is going over those videos with Lex and Dev. If he was in here with us now, Chance would never let you do what I’m about to suggest.”
Gwen’s shoulders stiffened. “He doesn’t ‘let’ me do anything. I make my own decisions and choices.” The guy could rage all he wanted. She wasn’t backing down for anyone. My life. My way.
“Like I said…Ethan in there won’t talk to a cop, but you aren’t exactly a cop.”
Gwen’s palms started to sweat.<
br />
“You want to find out if Ethan hired the driver of that van? Then why don’t you go in there and ask him. He’s cuffed, and I’ll make sure an officer stays in the room with you at all times.” Faith glanced over at Gwen. “If he’s as hooked on you as I think, he’ll want to talk to you. He’ll want to tell you what’s been happening. Want to convince you that he’s not the monster you think he is.” Her expression tightened. “But he is a monster, never forget that.”
Right. Gwen slowly blew out a breath. “I’m going in.” Because it was her decision. Her life. Chance and Gwen’s father had already played her enough. She wanted this nightmare to end, and the man sitting cuffed in that little room—he could end it for her. Ethan could give her the name of the man who’d been in that van. Man—or men. Whoever it was that Ethan had hired to terrorize her.
Then she could walk away. Start putting the pieces of her life back together.
“I was hoping you’d say that,” Faith murmured. She turned and headed for the hallway that led into interrogation. “Stay cool and stay in control,” Faith advised her. “He’s the one in cuffs. He can’t hurt you anymore.”
Gwen followed, her steps a bit slower. The creak of the interrogation room door opening sounded far too loud to her ears.
He can’t hurt you anymore.
Ethan looked up when the door opened. The instant he saw Gwen, he jumped to his feet. “Gwen! Finally! I’ve been telling my lawyer that I needed to talk to you—”
He had? Well, no wonder Faith had pushed for this little one-on-one.
“Five minutes,” Faith said, her voice flat. “That’s all the time you get with her, Barclay.”
Ah, so Faith was acting as if she didn’t want this little meeting. Clever. Another way to manipulate Ethan. Gwen was all for manipulating the guy. Especially considering how much the man had been tormenting her.
Then Faith turned on her heel and left the room. The door closed behind the detective. Goosebumps immediately rose on Gwen’s arms. It was oddly cold in that little room.
A uniformed officer watched from the corner.
“I wouldn’t hurt you,” Ethan said. His voice seemed to drip with sincerity. Like she’d be buying his lines anytime ever again. “I hope you know that, Gwen. No, I need you to know that.”
She just glared at him. “Sit back down, Ethan.” She didn’t want the guy towering over her.
His eyes crinkled faintly at the corners, as if he were trying to figure her out, but he slowly sat down. She didn’t. One thing she’d learned from her father’s business dealings…when you were facing an adversary, you needed to stay in a position of strength. Sure, her standing while Ethan was sitting wasn’t exactly much of a power play, but it still made her feel better.
“I should have explained things sooner,” Ethan said, his voice a bit halting. “But I didn’t think you’d believe me. And I thought…hell, maybe it wouldn’t happen with you. Maybe you’d be safe. You’d left me, after all…so maybe—”
She lifted her hand, stopping him. “What are you talking about?” The guy’s words were so jumbled that she could barely understand him.
His lips thinned. “You’re being stalked.”
She almost laughed. “I know. By you.”
“No.” Ethan shook his head. “I was protecting you. That’s why I had cameras at your place. You’d cut me out of your life, got that restraining order. I couldn’t get close, but I had to make sure he didn’t come for you, too.”
Her chest was aching. “He?” She needed to keep him talking. She might want to turn and run away, but the key to her life—it was in this room. Either Ethan had hired someone to terrorize her while he was locked up in jail or—
“He’s done it before. More than once. He takes away what I care about, and I don’t even know why.”
He takes away what I care about. Not what…who? “Your ex-fiancée.”
His fist slammed into the table. “Jena wasn’t my ex! She was my fiancée! We were still planning to get married then…” His words trailed away as his shoulders hunched.
“Then you killed her.”
His head whipped up. “The hell I did.”
“Someone tampered with her brakes.” At least, that was Faith’s theory, and Gwen was willing to run with it right then, just to see Ethan’s reaction. “What happened? Did she cut you out of her life, too? And you got pissed at her, just as you did with me?” Damn him, she didn’t deserve this. “I didn’t love you, Ethan. We were going to break up even before Chance and my father told me about your past.”
He swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing faintly. “I know you didn’t love me. You were too hung up on Chance to ever love me.” His head tilted to the right. “Do you love him, Gwen? Is he the one in your heart?”
She wasn’t about to tell him anything about her heart. She turned, acting as if she were heading for the door. “You don’t have anything useful to say—”
“I didn’t touch Jena’s brakes. And I never laid a hand on my ex-girlfriend Marjorie, either.”
Marjorie. Chance had showed her a picture of Marjorie’s battered face. That picture had sickened her. “I saw the police report. Marjorie went to the cops. She told them you attacked her.”
“She withdrew those charges because she realized what was happening.”
Gwen turned around to face him. “Where is Marjorie?”
Because neither Chance nor Gwen’s father had been able to find the woman.
“She’s safe.” His gaze cut toward the mirror on the nearby wall. The mirror that tossed back their reflections instead of showing them just who was watching in that observation room. Gwen had no doubt that Faith was out there right then.
“Safe?” A fist squeezed her heart. “Tell me she’s not dead.”
His gaze flew back to her. “I am not a killer, dammit! I knew her attacker would strike again, so I got Marjorie the hell out of here. I sent her out of the country. Gave her enough money to start fresh. When I say she’s safe…” He exhaled on a ragged breath. “I don’t mean she’s lying in a grave someplace. I mean that she’s far away and the bastard can’t hurt her again.”
Gwen found herself inching a little closer to him. “What bastard?”
“If I knew his identity, I would have stopped him by now.” He looked down at the handcuffs. “Hell, maybe I am a killer. Because of what he did to Jena, to Marjorie…to you…I think I could murder him.”
The drumming of her heartbeat filled her ears. “Marjorie must have seen the man who attacked her.”
“He was wearing a black ski mask.”
Oh, shit. Just like the man who attacked me.
“She thought it was me because we’d fought hours before. And when the guy slipped into her place, he used a key. He didn’t force his way inside. He just unlocked the back door.” Pain flashed across his face. “I had a key. He was my height. My build. He knew how to walk through her house without so much as making the wooden floor creak. So she thought it was me.”
Yes, Gwen could sure see where the woman would make that leap. Especially since I woke up one night and found Ethan in my bedroom…
“But it wasn’t me. I would never hurt her. Or you.” He stared into Gwen’s eyes. His expression was stark, so desperate. “My mother was abused. My bastard of a father made it his goal to terrorize her. I would never be like him.”
That sincerity was there again. Shining in his eyes. Nearly dripping from his words.
Gwen shook her head. “I want proof.”
“Check my video feeds—the jerk was at your house! I saw him…he was putting a camera into your bedroom. I rushed over there to find you, but you were already gone.”
She’d gone to Chance’s house…and the place had been torched.
“Why did he go after Jena?” Gwen asked. “Why Marjorie? Why me?” Nothing he said made sense to her. That’s because Ethan doesn’t make sense…he’s crazy! He had to be, right? After all he’d done?
“He targeted you—hell, h
e did it because the three of you weren’t casual fucks.” His uncuffed hand shoved through his already tousled hair. “Because he thought I could care about you…about Marjorie. He thought I’d care about you and Marjorie the way I cared for Jena, and that sick freak, he won’t let me be happy.” His eyes had gone hot with fury. “He called me once. Told me that. His voice was low, rasping, and he told me that I’d never be happy. He said he’d see to it…I didn’t know what he meant, not then. Not until I found myself in a morgue, identifying Jena’s body.”
Dear God. If his story was true…
Gwen didn’t have a stalker. Well…she had Ethan’s stalker. The attacks weren’t about her at all. “You and I aren’t together. It doesn’t make sense for him to come after me…”
He was staring at the handcuff again. “It had been so long since Marjorie. I thought…I stupidly thought the guy was gone. I hoped he was dead.” His shoulders rolled back. He sighed and confessed, “I made a mistake. I bought you a ring.”
***
“I bought you a ring…”
Chance wanted to punch right through the glass. Gwen was staring at Ethan in shock, and a faint tremble swept over her.
“The guy was gonna marry Gwen?” Lex asked from Chance’s side. Then the guy gave a low whistle. “Hell, I did not know that.”
Chance turned his head and glared at his partner.
“As twisted up as you are about her…man, you were just going to let that happen?” Lex pushed.
No fucking way. “I didn’t know.”
“Well, you should—”
“Shut the hell up,” Faith snapped. “I’m trying to hear.”
And Chance was trying to keep his sanity. He looked back through the glass. “Ethan is playing her. Gwen is far too trusting.”
“Right…” Lex drawled, but his voice was softer now. “Far too trusting. Like the time when she believed you came after her out of some unrequited love, and not because her father offered to throw a big wad of cash at us.”
Why was Lex pushing him? “The money didn’t matter to me. You know that.”
“Did the woman?”
“Yes,” he gritted out.