“We’re not going anywhere.”
Brooke stopped and turned toward him. “I held up my half of the deal. You said you’d let them go if I came here willingly.”
“Oh, I’m letting them go. You and I are just not going anywhere.”
She stared at him. “We’re miles from anywhere, and they’re just little girls.”
He shrugged. “They’re welcome to stay.”
Faced with an impossible choice, Brooke felt like throwing up. Slowly, she turned around at the sound of Emma’s wimpers. As she bent to untie their arms and legs, she made her decision. She had to trust the girls could make it out of here, that someone trustworthy would find them. She couldn’t let them stay here with Chris. He was too unstable, and she feared what they might see if they stayed. If Chris killed her, he might then turn on them. Praying that she was making the right decision, she removed the gags.
“Aunt Brooke.” Emma sobbed and hugged her with all the strength her little arms held.
Brooke gathered both girls in her arms and kissed their heads. “I’m so sorry.”
“Where’s Mommy?” Emma asked.
“She’s waiting for you, sweetie. Everything’s okay now.” Brooke wiped tears from Emma’s red cheeks.
She shifted her attention to Caitlyn. “Are you hurt?”
Caitlyn shook her head and glanced fearfully toward where Chris was moving around on the other side of the room. Brooke pulled her close enough to surreptitiously whisper in her ear.
“When you get outside, I want you to take Emma’s hand and you two run as fast as you can.”
Caitlyn started to speak, but Brooke squeezed her a bit to cut off the words.
“At the end of the drive, take a left and keep taking bigger and bigger roads until you see someone to call the police, okay?”
Caitlyn nodded. Brooke felt the questions bubbling in her oldest niece, but the girl stayed quiet and trusted her aunt. Brooke didn’t make any sudden moves but led the girls toward the door.
“Don’t even think about trying to run with them,” Chris said, his voice full of the promise of punishment should she go against him.
She didn’t respond as she opened the door and ushered the girls outside. “I love you,” she said to them.
Fresh tears were streaming down Caitlyn’s cheeks this time. She was old enough to grasp that something bad might happen to Brooke but was too young to do anything about it.
Brooke forced a smile. “It’s okay. Chris and I are just going to talk.” And then she mouthed a single word, “Run.”
She watched until they reached the end of the lane then turned and closed the door behind her, determined to do whatever she had to in order to give the girls as much time to escape as possible.
THE LAST THING Ryan wanted to do right now was hang around a police station, but that’s exactly what he was being forced to do in some place called Front Royal, Virginia. He and Simon had already told the collection of cops—local, state and federal—all they knew about Brooke and her past. Which wasn’t all that much, Ryan had realized as he’d been relaying it.
Now he paced up and down a short hallway next to the station’s vending machines.
“You’re going to wear out that strip of floor,” Simon said from where he stood leaning against the wall.
“I can’t sit still.” He gestured toward the front of the station. “I should be out there looking for her.”
“And where are you going to look?”
“Anywhere, everywhere. I’m sure not going to find her standing in here.”
“Just let the authorities do their jobs, Ry. They’re following every lead.”
Which consisted of a couple on a hiking trail seeing two people fitting Chris and Brooke’s descriptions switching vehicles from a dark SUV to a small, gray car.
“He’s crazy, Simon! And she’s with him.” Ryan’s heart leapt in his chest when a dark-haired woman stepped around the corner. Brooke.
But it wasn’t Brooke. A couple of moments passed before he realized this must be her sister.
“Are you all talking about Brooke?” she asked.
Simon pushed away from the wall. “Yes. You’re her sister, aren’t you?”
The woman nodded. “Holly.” She sniffed and wiped away a tear. “She went after my girls.” Holly looked about ready to drop, stretched thin with worry.
Simon and Ryan moved at the same time to help her to a seat. “Are you here alone?” Ryan asked.
“No. Clay, my husband, is on the phone with his parents. But I heard you all talking.” She eyed each of them. “You’re from the ranch, aren’t you?”
“We stand out that much?” Simon asked, trying to lighten the mood by referring to their distinctly cowboy attire.
Holly gave the barest hint of a smile. “A little.”
“Have you heard anything new?” Ryan asked her, desperate for some indication that Brooke was okay.
She looked him in the eye then shook her head. “But I know he has Brooke because he stopped calling us to do check-ins.”
Some sort of ruckus from the front of the station drew their attention. Ryan looked up in time to see several officers heading toward the front door, where a woman was leading in two little girls. Holly made a strangled sound that was part sob and part cry of relief as she leapt from her chair and raced toward her daughters.
“Thank God,” Simon said as Holly wrapped her arms around the girls.
Ryan stood from his crouched position next to Holly’s vacated chair. While he was thankful the little girls were safe, he scanned the crowd and the empty doorway beyond. But Brooke wasn’t there. A cold knot formed in his stomach.
“I found them out on Baker Hollow Road,” said the woman who’d brought in the girls. “They were running, holding hands and had tears streaming down their faces. I think they’d been on their own for hours. They kept saying something about a bad man and their aunt Brooke.”
Ryan closed the distance between him and the crowd. Simon caught him and held him back as one of the state police officers leaned down and asked the older girl, “Do you know where your aunt is?”
“In an old white house with that man who took us.”
Ryan grew more frustrated as he listened to the girls relay how Brooke had told them to run and how they’d lost count of how many times they’d made turns onto bigger roads until they’d been picked up.
“Don’t worry,” Simon said beside him. “They’ll find her.”
“But will they find her in time?” He stalked back toward the vending machines, as crazed as a wild animal forced into the confines of a too-small cage.
“We’ve got something,” one of the officers sitting at a computer said. “Chris Franklin owns a piece of property on Hackney Creek Road.”
As several of the officers prepared to leave, Ryan started to follow. Simon grabbed his arm to stop him. Ryan looked hard at his brother. “You’re going to want to let go of me, Simon. I’m going, and either you can take me or I can deck you and go without you.”
Simon stared right back for several moments. “Fine. But only if you promise me that when we get there, you let these guys do their jobs. You’re not seeing straight, and that makes you a danger to Brooke. Let them get her out of there.”
Ryan wanted to be the one to rescue her, but if this was the only way to get closer to her he’d agree. If he couldn’t rescue her, he’d at least be there to hold her when she was freed from that psychopath. And if the chance to beat in Franklin’s face presented itself, so much the better.
As they started to follow the officers out the door, Holly reached up from where she was still holding her daughters and grabbed Ryan’s hand. When he met her gaze, tears streamed down her face.
“Pl
ease bring my sister back safely.”
A knot formed in Ryan’s throat as he nodded. “I promise.”
EVERY TIME CHRIS made a move toward Brooke, she moved the same amount away from him. Her skin crawled at the idea of having him touch her. Already she’d had to listen to him ramble on for hours about everything she’d done wrong and how he was going to make sure she never left him again. She’d not interrupted, hoping that with each passing minute her nieces were closer to safety.
“You’re being rude, Brooke,” Chris said as he stalked her as if he were a lion and she his prey. “Is that any way to treat the man you love?”
She backed up slowly, not wanting to prompt him to do something drastic. She scanned the room for something she could use to defend herself because she was not letting him get any closer, no matter that she’d considered going back to him several days ago to protect those she cared about. She couldn’t return to the hell of being trapped by him.
“Why did you do this? Why couldn’t you just forget me?” she asked.
“I missed you. But of course, you’ll have to be punished for running away. I warned you.”
He was crazy, completely and utterly crazy.
“Why do you want to be with someone who doesn’t want to be with you?” She continued edging away with each step he took, careful not to trip and leave herself any more vulnerable than she already was.
“You just don’t know what’s good for you. You’re confused. I can give you a perfect life.”
“You mean the kind of life where you watch me like a hawk and treat me like a prisoner?” She didn’t know where the strength to say what she really felt came from, but she grabbed on to it and refused to let go. She was finished letting this man terrorize her.
The falsely pleasant look on his face drained away, leaving behind the angry, controlling man underneath. She wondered how he’d managed to fool so many people, her included. Shouldn’t there have been earlier signs that he wasn’t stable?
This house hadn’t been occupied for a long time, so she was left with little to use as a weapon. Best to keep him talking until she found something or a miracle happened and help arrived.
“Whose house is this?”
“Mine.”
That surprised her. She’d figured he’d just scoped out the area until he found an empty, well-hidden place.
“Yes,” he continued. “This is my boyhood home. Lovely, isn’t it?”
Her forehead scrunched. “You said you grew up in Georgetown.” She didn’t know why the lie surprised her, but it did.
“That’s where I should have grown up, not this pathetic piece of the backwoods.” Such contempt stained his words, shame that he’d been common and not exactly wealthy.
She didn’t like how the expression on his face changed, as if it was reflecting a deep, bitter anger. Her gaze lit on a carved wooden owl about the size of a football. It wasn’t the best weapon imaginable, but it was better than her bare hands. She grabbed it in one swift movement.
Chris’s eyes narrowed. “Put that down.”
She stood up straight and stared at him hard, no longer cowering. “No. I’m done being afraid of you. I want to leave.”
He took another step forward but stopped when she raised the hefty owl. “You can leave, but you’re going with me. Back where you belong.”
“You’re crazy if you think I’m going anywhere with you.”
Anger flooded his face, a rising of color and a tensing of his jaw. “You will go, and you won’t make a fuss about it.”
She gripped the owl more tightly, determined for it not to slip from her grasp. “That’s where you’re wrong.”
A horrible smile stretched across his face. How could she have ever thought him handsome when such darkness slithered beneath the surface? “Look at you, pretending to be all brave. Now, come along before you really make me angry. Your nieces are safe for now, but I bet we could catch up with them.”
“You bastard! Stay away from them.”
Chris hit his limit of patience. He roared and grabbed a chair then tossed it at her.
Brooke backed up but not fast enough. The chair hit her and caused her to trip over a rag rug. She fell backwards, but miraculously didn’t hit her head or lose her grip on the owl. She scrambled to stand, but Chris took the opportunity to tackle her.
“Get off me!” She kicked and writhed and was finally able to take a swing with the owl. She aimed for his head but he shifted and she caught his shoulder instead. Still, she hit him hard enough that his grip loosened and she almost got free.
Chris cursed and slammed into her so hard, pressing her face into the floor, that it was difficult to breathe. It felt as if he’d flattened her lungs inside her body. This time, he’d leave more than psychological scars. She was going to have bruises, whether she lived or not. But she wasn’t going to go quietly.
She struggled and screamed, determined to free herself from his clutches. He grasped her hair next to the base of her skull and yanked her head back. Pain shot through her like lightning.
“Don’t you ever forget,” he yelled next to her ear, “that you are mine!”
Through the roaring in her head, she heard the front door slam open and then the sound of feet rushing into the room. One moment Chris was on top of her, and the next his weight was lifted away. She breathed in huge gulps of air and rolled over.
“Miss Alder, are you okay?” She rolled to her side and blinked until she could focus on the face of a young man in a police uniform.
“The girls?”
“They’re fine, at the station with their mother and father.”
Brooke closed her eyes and let the tears come.
“What’s he doing in here?” she heard someone say and then the scent of pine tickled her nose.
“Brooke?”
It couldn’t be, but when she opened her eyes there was Ryan looking at her with fear in his eyes. “Ryan?” Maybe she had hit her head.
The next thing she knew she was in his arms, pressed close and crying on his shoulder. “I can’t believe you’re here.”
“Of course I’m here.”
He said nothing else, but it was enough to make her heart swell with love and hope. But for now, she was satisfied with just holding him.
“Are the girls really okay?”
He pulled back to look into her eyes. “Yes. A lady found them on the side of the road and brought them to the police station. They’re with your sister and brother-in-law.”
Fresh tears streamed down her cheeks.
“Is this who you’ve been whoring yourself to?” Chris spat at her.
In a flash, Ryan was on his feet. Before anyone could react, he’d slammed his fist into Chris’s jaw. A cop pulled him back and shoved him toward Simon, who’d come into the house at some point.
“Restrain your brother, or I’ll have to book him for assault,” the cop said.
“He’s done,” Simon said and steered Ryan back toward Brooke. Simon extended his hand and helped her to her feet.
“Thank you.” She shifted her attention to Ryan, who was giving Chris a fierce glare and breathing hard. She lifted her hand to his jaw and forced him to look at her. “He’s not worth any more of our attention.”
It took him a moment to calm down, but then he nodded. He pulled her into his arms again and kissed her forehead. When he guided her toward the door, she was only too glad to let him. Not even the angry words Chris hurled at them made a dent. Caitlyn and Emma were safe, and she was in Ryan’s arms again. It was a miracle considering she’d not been convinced she’d live to see any of them again.
Simon drove them back to the police station, and not once did Ryan let go of her where they sat in the back seat. Even as they headed inside,
he kept his arm around her. He didn’t break contact until forced to when Holly spotted her and raced forward to take her sister in her arms.
“Oh, Brooke,” Holly said through thick tears.
“I’m so sorry, Holly.” She looked over Holly’s shoulder to where Clay held one of his daughters in each arm. “I’m so sorry,” she said to them all.
Holly leaned back and placed her hands on either side of Brooke’s face. “This isn’t your fault.”
“But if it wasn’t for me—”
“Stop it,” Holly said in a voice that sounded so much like their mother that it startled Brooke into silence. “This is no one’s fault but Chris’s. You understand me?”
Tears welled in Brooke’s eyes. “You don’t hate me?”
“No, silly. You’re my sister. I love you.”
The tears broke free, and they only flowed more freely when Brooke felt little arms go around her waist and leg. She looked down and saw the girls hanging on to her. She lowered to her knees and gathered them close.
“I’m so sorry he scared you,” she said, thanking God he’d not done more than that.
Emma was quiet but she hugged Brooke harder. Caitlyn kissed Brooke’s cheek. “You’re my hero, Aunt Brooke.”
Brooke lost it completely and cried into her niece’s hair, which despite everything she’d been through that day still smelled like fruity little girl shampoo.
“You’re my hero, too,” Brooke said. “Both of you. You were very brave.” And they’d no doubt saved her life.
She caught Ryan’s gaze over Caitlyn’s shoulder and saw an emotion there that made her heart skip. This day just kept producing one miracle after another.
AFTER THEY’D MADE LOVE, Brooke lay in Ryan’s arms until she heard his breathing slow into the rhythm of sleep. Then she slid from the bed and slipped on a robe. She crossed to the window and looked out into the night, watched as a few cars drove by on the familiar street. Looking out into the dark didn’t scare her anymore because she knew Chris wasn’t lurking. He was sitting in a cell somewhere facing kidnapping and assault charges.
Cowboy to the Rescue Page 18