Saving Love (The Piper Anderson Series Book 8)

by Danielle Stewart

  “Okay,” Sydney replied hesitantly as she wrung her hands nervously. “I don’t want to make things worse. What if I say the wrong thing?”

  “We have them both in custody. You’ll be well protected and she won’t be in a position to make the situation any worse. The only thing Diana can do is give us answers at this point.” Jason cut the wheel quickly and the tires squealed as he brought the car to a stop next to the half dozen police cars surrounding the car they’d clearly pulled Bo and Diana out of hastily.

  “Is this Sydney?” an officer asked, rushing up toward them. His handlebar mustache and shaggy hair blew in the breeze as his eyes danced anxiously.

  “Yes,” Jason answered, pushing Sydney forward. Chris felt like his whole life was hanging in the balance of this moment.

  “Sydney,” he called as he caught her elbow and spun her back toward him. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for Little Chris. I know you can do this.” He didn’t really know that. His memory of Diana was of a woman whose highs were high but lows were extremely low. There might be no good news at the end of this conversation between Sydney and her. But Sydney needed to go in believing she could. He loosened his grip on her arm and watched as the officer led her away.

  Though he wished Sydney hadn’t brought up his past in such a tense moment, he knew eventually she deserved answers. His first instinct had been to be angry with her timing and accusatory tone, but now, as he watched her walk toward their only hope, he didn’t want his anger to be a thought in her mind.

  Chapter Eleven

  Sydney’s mind was spinning as she stepped in front of Diana, now handcuffed and chained to the police car door. “Where is he?” Sydney asked, trying to stay as calm as possible.

  “I want to know something first,” Diana demanded with a fire in her eyes, letting Sydney know she wouldn’t be easily swayed from whatever terms she had in mind.

  “Then ask,” Sydney replied flatly.

  “Why did you handcuff yourself to my son? What was going on in your head? Are you insane or something?” Her eyes twitched with what looked like exhaustion and emotion as she posed the question.

  “I’m not insane,” Sydney started, fighting the urge to make an argument against Diana’s sanity. “I heard you tell Bo to cuff me and take Little Chris. Once I knew you weren’t there for me, there was no way I was letting you take him without taking me as well. I knew I couldn’t fight both of you, so I whacked Bo with the pan, took the cuffs and key, and did what I thought would keep you from being able to leave without me.”

  “You love him like he’s your own?” Diana asked as the tears spilled over the rims of her eyes and down her cheeks. Without a free hand to wipe them away, they dropped at a feverish pace toward the ground.

  “I do. I would die to keep him safe.” Sydney stared into Diana’s eyes as she spoke. She truly would lay down her life to save the boy and she wanted her face to make that truth known. “Please tell me where he is.”

  “There is something not right about me. I take pills to keep it from causing too many problems in my life but I think I’ve known all along my son shouldn’t be with me. He shouldn’t be with his father either though. That’s what drove me to this. I know things you don’t about that man and I don’t want my son growing up in that life. He deserves better. He can be more.” Her lip quivered as she sniffled back more tears.

  “Chris isn’t a part of that life anymore. He’s broken the cycle and doesn’t ever intend for his son to follow in the footsteps he had to. He’s different now.”

  “That’s like looking at a man who’s been burned badly. He might not be on fire anymore but his skin will never be the same again. You don’t know him.”

  Sydney pondered her statement. She was feeling the weight of it since the moment Bo had told her Chris slaughtered his own parents. Maybe she didn’t know him well enough to judge whether he was all healed and ready for a second chance at life. But she knew his son and he certainly deserved everything she had to give. “Maybe you’re right. I can’t say positively if Chris is worthy of starting over. But I know your son is. And I intend to make sure he has every chance at being happy and safe for the rest of his life. Please tell me where he is so I can give him that.”

  “We were on our way to the airstrip and we weren’t going to make it in time. Bo was furious. This was going to be his exit strategy and it was falling apart. We felt like everything was closing in on us. Chris told us he knew his father would never stop looking for him so it didn’t matter what plane we went on or how far we went. Bo didn’t like that and hit him. Hard. It knocked him right out for a second and scared me half to death. Bo pulled over to get reception on his phone and call the pilot of the plane, trying to get him to wait. When he stepped out of the car I opened the door and told my son to run and not look back. He took off into the woods and I covered the bags in the back with a blanket to make Bo think he was sleeping.”

  “Where? What woods?” Sydney asked with less compassion and more anger now that she knew Little Chris was alive and alone somewhere.

  “It was about two miles back. There was a cornfield and some fences. It was just before the road forked off.”

  Sydney turned to run toward the nearby cops and tell them the news but they’d clearly heard it as they jumped into motion.

  “Please, I’m begging you. Tell him I’m sorry and I love him. He doesn’t belong with me. I don’t deserve him. And neither does his father. But with you, maybe he has a chance.” Diana fell to her knees, her cuffed hands now by her head, still chained to the car door as she begged.

  “I’ll take care of him,” Sydney promised as her own frightened and confused tears formed. “He’ll have everything he needs and he’ll be happy.”

  Sydney backed away slowly, feeling a strange mix of empathy and anger toward Diana. The woman had thought she was doing the right thing for her son. Her tactics were barbaric and insane but her motivation had come from maternal love. It was twisted and unnatural but it was born from something Sydney could understand.

  Chris was suddenly by her side, pulling her quickly toward a car. “We need to get out there and start looking. They’re forming search parties now. These woods and farmlands are huge and he could be disoriented.”

  “Bo hit him hard Diana said. He was knocked out for a moment. He could have a concussion and will need to be treated as soon as possible,” Sydney begged as they fell into the back of Jason’s SUV and he drove toward the destination given to the instantly formed search party.

  “There will be flashlights and vests for everyone once we get there. With officers and crews already on high alert there will be ample boots on the ground. He’s a little kid on foot he couldn’t have gotten very far,” Jason tried to reassure, but all Sydney could think about was him losing consciousness out there somewhere with a severe concussion.

  Chapter Twelve

  “You did so well, Sydney. They had the two-way radio turned on in the squad car and we heard you. You said all the right things.” Chris’s energy was frantic as he planted a kiss on Sydney’s cheek. The first kiss they’d exchanged since all of this had started.

  “I wasn’t trying to only say the right things. I meant every word of it. I’d do anything for him. Anything.”

  Jason looked back in the rearview mirror at them as he spoke. “You handcuffed yourself to him and thought on your feet to keep him with you. You slowed them down long enough for us to get the jump on them. They’d be nearly to Cuba right now if it weren’t for you. You not only meant every word you said there, you’ve proven it.”

  The car pulled up to yet another dark location, alive with the blue and red flashing lights of police cars. People were pulling on neon vests and plucking flashlights from a box on the hood of one of the cars. They were handing out radios and marking off grids on a large map taped down to the car as Chris, Jason, and Sydney approached.

  “You the Marshal?” a long-faced gap-toothed officer asked as he continued handing out t
he supplies. When Jason answered affirmatively the officer pointed toward a tower of portable lights being raised up. “The captain is over there. He wants to talk with you before you head into the woods.”

  “I’m not waiting,” Chris said, pulling on his vest. “If my son is out there with a head injury every second could count.”

  “Me too,” Sydney said, snatching a radio out of the box and tucking her vest under her arm as she raced to keep pace with Chris.

  The echoing sound of other searchers calling out his son’s name was comforting. It felt like little beacons spread across the area all calling him home.

  “He’s got to be scared out of his mind,” Sydney whispered as she swept her flashlight across the muddy ground.

  “Did you really mean everything you said to Diana?” Chris asked as he kept his quick pace through the woods even though the trees grew thicker together. “The part about not being positive if I’m worthy of the second chance. I need to know if you think my son should be with you and not with me after we find him. Maybe we shouldn’t all be together. If you told me that, I’d trust you were right. You said you’d do anything for him. Do you think that includes taking him away from me for his own good?”

  “Let’s find him first, Chris. Let’s get him any medical attention he may need, calm his fears, and then worry about what the hell we’re supposed to do from here.” Sydney stopped for a second to kick over a pile of leaves that turned out to be nothing. Chris looked back at her with tired and pleading eyes that begged her to answer him.

  “I need to know. Tell me now before I find him and hold him again and never want to let him go. Tell me now while I can still convince myself he’d be better off without me. That both of you would be.” Chris waited until Sydney was back by his side to pull up the branches of a prickly bush and let her push through.

  “Did you slaughter your parents in cold blood? Are you a monster who is just very good at hiding his claws?” Sydney flashed her light in his face and he squinted at the brightness of it.

  Chris sighed but didn’t hesitate. “I was deep into my father’s lifestyle and things were going bad. Very bad. He’d gotten reckless, and his greed had him making decisions he’d sworn years ago he would never make. He was getting into businesses you couldn’t take any pride in. Gone were the victimless crimes like gambling rings. Sean got sucked into a few things and I swear it’s why he has the problems he does today.” Chris spoke with anxious breath as he continued cutting through the thick woods looking for his son.

  “It’s not a long answer, Chris. You either did or you didn’t. There won’t be any explanation I’ll be able to make peace with.” Following him, Sydney lost her footing and caught herself on his arm, sending her perfume wafting toward him. He didn’t want to walk away from his wife and son. He didn’t want to never feel her reaching for him again, but if this was the result of this conversation, he’d take that punishment for the sake of their happiness without him.

  “Sean was my mother’s baby, and when it got back to her that my father had put him in charge of a prostitute ring she lost it. My father didn’t give a damn about my mother or her opinion at that point, and she knew that. She saw our lives falling apart by the second. Little Chris was still a toddler, but his life was already being wrecked by my father’s choices. She came to me and begged me to reason with him. She told me if I couldn’t get him to stop all this despicable stuff she would go to the police. She’d take my son and Sean and go live out their lives somewhere in hiding while the rest of us rotted in jail. She told a couple people she thought she could trust, but she was wrong.” Chris stopped in his tracks to listen intently to the staticky radio as people called out areas they had cleared and were ready to move to another one.

  “Why didn’t you talk to him and try to get him to stop?” Sydney asked as she crouched down low for a new perspective, flashing her light over every rock and stump.

  “He was out of control by then. He wanted power and money and he would’ve done anything to make sure he kept it. An associate of my father’s prostitute business found out my mother was on the verge of going to the police and, just before Christmas, they broke into my house and killed my mother. I got there too late.” Chris hesitated in his search as he continued with a pained expression. “I couldn’t imagine how to break the news to my father that his wife of twenty-nine years was dead. She’d been killed in cold blood. The problem was when I walked into my father’s study it was clear it wasn’t news to him at all. He’d been home while it happened, and for all I knew he placed the hit on her himself.”

  Sydney covered her heart with her hand at the brutality of his story. “How could he do that?” she asked, horrified.

  “Because he’s a monster, and right then, I was, too. He told me my mother had broken the family code, and she knew the rules going in. She knew the consequences. He was so cold and indifferent. There was nothing to get him to stop the poison he was spreading in the world. I promised myself I would finish what my mother had started. I vowed I’d stop all the things my father was doing and get my family out. That had to start with making sure my father never left that house alive. I killed him. I know that probably changes things between us. I know you may never look at me the same way, but I’d do it again if given the chance. He’d just had my mother murdered. He’d do the same to me, or my son, or my brother, if we crossed him. It took years, but I finally did what my mother had tried to do and got my family out. But maybe it was too late. I might be too far gone to be worthy of having this fresh start.”

  “You should have told me all of this from the beginning. I had a right to know everything before we ever got married, before I fell in love with you and your son.”

  “I don’t regret that either because maybe Diana is right. Maybe Little Chris doesn’t belong with her or me. Maybe he just belongs with you. You could be his family and give him the life he deserves. “

  “And how do you propose I do that? Should he and I just move away and act like we never met you? Do you really think he’ll let you go that easily? And for God’s sake, we have to find him first and make sure he’s okay.”

  “Maybe I should never come out of these woods with you. When they find him I could walk away and just keep going. I’ve killed people, Sydney. I’ve hurt people. A man like that shouldn’t get to have the kind of happiness you and I do. I should have to pay, and maybe my payment comes in having to walk away from you.”

  Sydney fell silent as the radio began to buzz again, this time the voice more frantic than just the regular updates. “We’ve got him. He’s awake and mobile. We’re walking back toward you now. Have an ambulance waiting,” an unfamiliar voice rang out. “He want’s his dad. He’s asking for him. Let’s make sure he’s at the ambulance when we come out.”

  Chris froze in his steps. His instincts to run back toward the road were strong, but he held back knowing there was a decision to make, and it was Sydney’s.

  “I’ll go. If you think you can’t love this person I am then at least love my son the way you already have. He deserves you and if you think I’ll stand in the way of that or weigh too heavily on your lives then I’ll cut you both loose so you can move on. I can make it as easy as disappearing right now.”

  “Please don’t put this on me. Please don’t ask me to make that kind of decision. You know he wouldn’t want you to go.”

  “He’s a boy. He isn’t supposed to know what’s best for him. We’re his parents. It’s up to us. If you think being with me isn’t good for him and loving me isn’t possible for you then we have to make that choice right now. If I get the chance to hold him I’ll never let go. It’s now or never.”

  Sydney turned toward Chris and leaned in so close her breath was warm across his face. She stared up into his eyes with an intensity that made his heart ache. “The only impossible thing I can imagine is living without you. I couldn’t have loved you back then. I couldn’t have been with someone who did all the things you did but I can’t imagi
ne not loving who you are now. I don’t want a single day when your son doesn’t get to roll his eyes at you or be angry with us for our choices. You aren’t perfect, you aren’t even close, but don’t go. I’d rather have every bad piece of you than live without all the good pieces.” She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder.

  He shook with emotion, knowing how close to the brink this day had brought him and how amazing it felt to be moving away from that dangerous edge. The radio rang out again, shoving them into motion as they announced they were just a few minutes away from him. They broke into a full sprint, hopping over stumps and ducking under limbs, trying to make their way back to the road to grab their son and hold him forever.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chris wrapped his arms so tightly around his son he heard him groan, but that didn’t stop him. He kissed the boy’s face with all the kisses he missed at school drop off since the boy had gotten too cool. And this time there was no protest from his son. Sydney slammed into them with such excitement she almost knocked them both over. Chris felt his son wiggle out of his grip and turn toward Sydney with his arms wide open.

  “You should have seen her, Dad. She was like a crazy person trying to keep me from going with them. You would have been so impressed,” Little Chris explained as he squeezed Sydney tightly.

  “I am so proud of both of you. You did everything right, and that’s why you’re here right now.” They were ushered into the back of a waiting ambulance. Chris was insisting Sydney finally get checked out as well. Reluctantly she allowed the EMTs to start checking her vitals. The ride to the hospital was full of wide smiles and long hugs in between the busy hands of the EMTs. When the ambulance doors finally opened, beaming the bright lights of the hospital to them, Chris felt the ordeal was over.