“Bobby—”
“Call me Father,” Bobby said. “I want to hear you say it.”
A chill crept over his skin. “Only if you let her go.”
Bobby’s shoulders slumped. “I can’t do that, Max. Then you’ll be the big hero, and I’ll be sitting in prison. That just won’t work for me. So here’s the deal.” He pushed Olivia back under the water. “You’ll have to kill me if you want to win. Can you kill your own father? I think you’re too much of a coward. Let’s see what my boy’s got.”
Kryptonite. The word pounded through his head and stole his breath.
An explosion rocked Olivia out of the encroaching blackness. Her body jerked in response to it. The pressure of Bobby’s hand on her chest eased. She burst out of the water and sucked in air—then coughed violently. She got the impression of being surrounded by the color red. A coppery smell filled her nostrils. His hands were still on her, though he was no longer gripping her. What had happened? She didn’t give herself time to think about it. As he slumped into the tub, she pushed him away and reached for the side.
“Olivia!”
Max’s voice! He pulled her out of the tub and into his arms. Still coughing and pulling in breaths, she was too weak to even stand. He hoisted her up and carried her out of the bathroom and down the hallway. She wasn’t too weak, however, to wrap her arms around his neck and bury her face against his shoulder.
“It’s okay,” he murmured. “Let’s get you out of here.”
“Where’s Phaedra?”
“Sam’s got her.”
He carried her up the steps, through the smaller room, and down the hallway. The outside air was cold against her wet body, and she pulled closer to Max.
He sat down on the front steps and kissed her forehead. “Can you breathe all right?”
She nodded, feeling the painful pressure in her chest ease with each breath.
She heard voices rushing toward them. “Max, what happened?” Sam O’Reilly’s voice said.
“I shot him. He’s still down in the shelter.”
Sam said, “Follow me.” Footsteps stampeded past her into the courthouse.
“Olivia!” It was Phaedra’s voice.
Olivia reached out and felt the girl’s hand in hers. “We did it.”
“No, you did it. I couldn’t get the door open. It was too heavy. And I was so scared when I heard him hurting you.” Her shame was clear.
Olivia squeezed her hand. “It’s all right, sweetie. All that matters is that the bad man will never hurt you again, I promise,” she managed between wheezing breaths.
“Shh,” Max said against her ear. “Save your breath.” He reached over to Phaedra. “Little girl, you don’t know how happy I am to see you. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I think so.” Phaedra hugged Olivia close. “You were right, Max did save us.”
He said, “Olivia’s the hero this time.”
“Me?”
“Your painting told me where you were. The brick pattern was the same one I’d seen in the police station’s storage room.”
Footsteps continued going in and out of the doorway, and various voices discussed what they’d seen down there.
“Olivia, I’m sorry I doubted you.” It was Sam O’Reilly’s voice again. “I took Phaedra to the station and got help, but she wanted to come back and make sure you were all right. An ambulance is on the way.”
Max asked, “Is he…?”
“Yeah, he’s dead. Your shot was dead on.”
A minute later another man’s voice said, “What the hell is going on around here? First, I’m called in to work because one of my men has gone bonkers. And now…”
Max said, “Captain, this is Phaedra Burns. That’s the important thing right now. Call her parents and tell them to come get their girl. I’ll explain everything else later.”
An ambulance pulled up, sirens pulsing through the night air. A minute later, a man said, “Are they all right?”
“Yeah, they are.” Max’s voice revealed he still couldn’t believe it. He brushed her hair back from her face. “But give them a look over just to be sure. We’ll need some blankets, too.”
After they’d been examined, a female officer took Phaedra to the station. Max swaddled Olivia in a scratchy wool blanket.
She heard the stretcher clatter by as they took Bobby away. Even though he couldn’t hurt her anymore, Max still tightened his hold on her as it passed.
The red color was gone, but there was something else. Not darkness.
“Olivia, why do you keep blinking?” He bracketed her eyes with his fingers. “Are your eyes all right?”
She lifted her hand in front of her face. Slowly, she looked up at him. “Max…I can see.”
EPILOGUE
One month later.
Max made a sound of frustration. “I got used to the ties, but bowties are a whole other matter.”
Olivia set her shawl on the corner of her bed and slid her arms around him from behind. “I wish I could help. More importantly, I wish I could see just how handsome you look in that tux.”
He swung around and before she even knew what happened, he’d pinned her down on the bed. “Let’s just blow the whole thing off and fool around all night instead.”
She let him get away with a long, mind-bending kiss before playfully pushing him off. “No way. We’ve earned this night. I, for one, am going to enjoy it. Besides, it means a lot to the Burnses, and to Phaedra.”
The Burnses insisted on arranging for an appreciation dinner. They’d invited everyone who had helped with the investigation, including Judy. Stasia would be there, too, of course. Max wasn’t thrilled at his and Olivia being the guests of honor.
He got to his feet and pulled her up. “They could have just treated us to dinner at one of their restaurants. I would have been happy with that.”
“For saving their daughter? I don’t think they would have been happy with that.” She pinched his cheek. “It’s only one night.”
All Olivia could see of him was a dark blur as he stood before the mirror and fiddled with the tie again. It was more than she’d seen of anything in so long, she was grateful for that. Dr. Bhatti and Dr. Marano had been studying the gradual return of her sight. One theory was that Olivia had indeed sustained a minute brain injury sixteen years ago. That injury may have caused some visual problems, but no one knew because of the conversion disorder. The recent knock to her head reversed that initial damage and, oddly enough, Marano thought Max’s love had reversed the conversion disorder. Or, more specifically, her acceptance that she needed his love. It would take time before they’d know how much of her vision would return, but as long as she had Max by her side, she’d handle whatever it turned out to be.
“Are Sam and Annie going to be there?” she asked. “When we had lunch last week, it sounded like they were going to go as a family. She’s really trying to get past the Helene thing.”
“Last I heard, they were all going to be there. I think they’re going to make it work. Ah hah, got it.”
“Good.” She ran her fingers over the bowtie. “Speaking of family, have you decided when to visit Odette and make peace?”
Right or wrong, Max had left out her obstruction of justice in his report. He couldn’t bear to see her prosecuted for her blind devotion. “Maybe we can drive out next week.”
We. Both of them. Max had come home with her on Christmas night, and they’d spent every night since together. She knew he was giving her space, trying not to overwhelm her or threaten her sense of independence. He was letting her set the pace. They’d been talking about making his house into a place where mentally challenged people like Judy could learn to live independently. Tonight, after the dinner, she was going to suggest they move ahead with the plan...because he wouldn’t need a place of his own anymore. His home was there, with her, holding her so close at night that she’d never felt safer. Or more loved.
But there was something she needed to know first. She slid her arms around him,
facing him this time. “Is the whole hero thing the reason you don’t like the idea of this dinner? Is that why you turned down the promotion to lieutenant? You haven’t talked much about what happened. You don’t have to hold it inside anymore. You don’t have to face it alone.” She swallowed the thickness from her voice, giving away, even to herself, how much his silence on the matter was bothering her. “It must have been hard to shoot your own father, no matter how evil he was. Please talk to me, Max.”
He touched her face the same way she often touched his. “I didn’t mean to shut you out, love. I guess I’ve just been trying to work it out in my mind.” He held her closer and let out a long breath. “It was harder than I thought it would be. After all he’d done to me, to those girls…you…I thought I could pull that trigger without hesitation. He played the same mind games he used to play with me, making me feel like that helpless kid again. He called me a coward and told me I’d have to kill him if I wanted to win. When he pushed you under the water again, his power over me evaporated. All that mattered was saving you.”
“But that’s the way you are. You’d shoot to save anyone’s life. Whether you like it or not, you’re a—”
He put a finger over her mouth. “Don’t call me a hero.”
“Why not?”
“Being a hero is a charade. All my life I drove myself because I was afraid to be anything less. But when I knew he had you”—he moved his finger to brush her cheek—”everything changed. All I knew was that I couldn’t lose you. That’s what drove me, not anything rooted in my childhood, not an ongoing quest to eradicate my father. I realized there was another reason to do what I do—because I love doing it. I never loved being a cop; I was driven to it. Driven to rescue damsels in distress, driven to right the wrongs of the world. But now I want to do it because…well, because I want to do it. That’s why I turned down the promotion. I need to earn it, in my mind.”
She held him close. “Thank you for sharing that.”
He tilted her chin up. “I’m ready to let the past go. When I look ahead, all I see is you.”
She kissed him hard as she pulled him toward the bed and unbuttoned his pants.
“Hey, I thought you wanted to go to this dinner,” he half-protested between kisses.
“I do, but there’s nothing wrong with being a little late.”
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Epilogue
Blindsight [Now You See Me] (Romantic Suspense) Page 34