Stockholm

by Leigh Lennon

  “Hey there,” he said, as he too had probably missed the visits she’d paid him throughout his days working at home. “I’ve missed this,” he said, giving her a small opening.

  “I’m so sorry, Adam. I did this without your blessing, but worse, we have a bigger problem.”

  Adam looked down at his papers first, taking in what she had just told him. He slightly brought his face to hers, and his eyes started to water. “I know, honey, I know. I’ve been avoiding this; the issue with Blake in hopes it would go away.” It was time to figure out how to help him and save what was left of their family.

  Before he could say anything else, she started to speak, “That’s the reason Mikayla left.”

  By his eyes, that was a surprise. Before he could say anything else, he grabbed his wife and brought her close to him. “You were right to try to find Mikayla; it was my silly pride. Especially now that we know.” They didn’t say anything else as they cried in each other’s arms.

  Colette

  David had just gotten home when Liam threw up everywhere. “Cole, I got this mess. Go put Liam in the shower.” Colette knew David’s affinity for puke and gladly switched places.

  “No, honey. I got this. You get Liam. I’d rather clean up one pile of puke than two,” she said, giving David a little smirk. She often wondered how he made it through medical school.

  Elizabeth was watching some sort of tween show on Disney when the doorbell rang. “I got it,” she called.

  “No, Elizabeth!” she yelled animated when she looked at her watch, knowing that only Maribel stopped by unannounced, and she was out of town for a marketing conference. With her cleaning gloves on her hands, she opened the door, and in one moment, she was transported back to the scared girl who’d been abused by this man when his life became shitty.

  She couldn’t catch her breath. Out of nowhere, Elizabeth appeared, and now her worst nightmare was playing out in front of her. Blake preyed on women weaker than him both physically and emotionally. The one thing she’d never let Elizabeth become was a weak woman who’d allow a man to harm her.

  “Mom, who is it? Dad told me to tell you Liam threw up again.” Pushing her away from the front door, she shut it just enough to give her daughter privacy from who was on the other side.

  “Okay, I’ll be right there.” Was all she could muster as the door was pushed in on her.

  “I didn’t want to believe it,” he said on the other side of the entryway. “You built a life for yourself purposely, didn’t you?”

  “Um, how did you find me?” He had to sense her fear. Blake thrived on fear— it turned him on in some sick way, like a nice-looking woman turned on most decent men, but with Blake, this was a sickness.

  He smirked at her. “No, that won’t work, Mikayla.”

  “I haven’t been called that in a long time, and I think you need to leave, now,” she said firmly, not wanting to bring attention with her daughter behind her. His bulky body towered over her, and his harsh words wouldn’t melt her as they had in the past. She was stronger than she used to be.

  “Aren’t you going to invite me in? Or should I call the police?” He threatened her.

  “There is nothing you can do.”

  “Um, let me think ... your husband kidnapped you and convinced you to come live with him, more so, it’s convenient too that your brother-in-law works for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. So I’m thinking you are here illegally, Colette Dubroise.”

  “Blake, I’m happy. I’m really happy, and I will make it up to Mom somehow, but please, this is my life. I love it. I have kids; this is my family.”

  “Cole, honey, who is at the door? It can’t be Maribel.” David laughed, grabbing the door away from where she was shielding herself and her brother. Before he could do anything, a fist hit David in the face, and Elizabeth, who was right behind her father, screamed.

  “I know what you did to my sister.”

  She stood between her brother and husband, as the color drained from her face. “Come in, wait for me in the kitchen.” She grabbed her phone and called Luke. “I need you to come get Elizabeth and Liam now. It’s an emergency.” She hung up the phone before he could say anything and instructed David to wait for Luke with Elizabeth. Within ten minutes, Luke was loading a puking Liam and a scared Elizabeth into his car. David walked into the kitchen.

  “You need to leave,” David spat, standing between Colette and her brother.

  “I chose this life because of you, and if you are not careful, you’re going to lose your family too!” Colette shouted at him, breaking the safety of her husband, finally standing her ground as she should’ve done years ago.

  “I have a great family. I have a great life, and you have no idea how I am living.” Blake yelled.

  She stepped closer to him with David firmly behind her. “No, you have a wife you control, like you did me. I should know. I was her at one point.” Leaning up, closer to his face, she changed her icy tone. “If I were you, I would put your own house in order before tearing down someone else’s.”

  Without seeing it coming, Blake whipped his hand around and slapped Colette in the face, but in a split second, David cold-cocked Blake, and he fell over. Fixed over him, David moved to sit on his chest, and he began swinging with both hands. “You. Will. Never. Touch. My. Wife. Again. If you do, I. Will. Kill. You!” David stood from where he kneeled on Blake’s chest, pulling him by the collar. “You took too much from her already. You come near my family again, I’ll kill you. You report my family, you will become acquainted with the same man who would have killed for Mikayla twelve years ago. That man no longer exists, but I can fucking guarantee you, he will come out and play if I think for a second you are a threat to what we’ve built.”

  Pulling himself up, Blake wobbled for a second, then he took one last look at his sister. “You won’t get away with this.” As David charged him, Blake grabbed his keys that had fallen out of his jacket from the floor and left, slamming the door behind him.

  29

  12 Years Ago

  Five months in captivity

  Mikayla

  She stood at the entrance of his room, the same place she’d slept for the past month. He was cleaning up, making the bed, but her plans were to get him back in the bed. “What are you doing?” she asked, though it was quite obvious.

  Tucking a sheet between the mattress and the box spring, he looked back to answer her, but the smile on her face said it all. “Well,” he said, abandoning the military way he’d been making his bed, “do you have something else in mind?”

  Walking toward him in just a white t-shirt of his, she began, “You told me once that I liked it heated, and angry, and rough.” Her voice was no more than a whisper. “And I think I may want to try all those things.”

  Unbuckling his belt, he had his pants off by the time he reached her. “Sweetness, fuck, those words are so sexy coming from your mouth.” With his arms around her, he took her mouth in a kiss, and it was rough, there was no question. Cupping her neck with his hand, he didn’t release her as her moans intensified. Jumping on him, she squeezed her legs around his muscular waist.

  Taking her to the bed, he tossed her light body on the mattress, and her eyes widened with mischief. “You want to challenge me?” His voice raspy and her eyes fixed on him, she couldn’t help but laugh.

  “We are messing up your pretty sheets.” His eyes were dark, hooded, and she was aware he only wanted one thing right now. “Do I need a safe word?” She smiled because this Nolan excited her in a different way, a raw and real way.

  “Sweetness, I will never hurt you, but if you don’t want to do anything, then you just say no, and I’ll stop.”

  “I don’t want you to stop. I want this, and I want it fucking now.”

  His eyes remained on her when he took the hem of the shirt on her body and ripped it from the bottom to the top, exposing her boobs. “This isn’t sex, sweetness; this is more.”

  He never had to say this,
but he always did, and she always wondered if it was more for him, to absolve him from taking Mikayla as he had, or if it was for her. No matter the reason, sex with him was more than the physical sensations and pleasure. Her body was on fire, and she only said, “I choose you, I choose you—always.”

  Though these words were normally said when he was inside her, he had to be convinced that he was good enough for her. She saw it in his eyes that he questioned his methods at times, but she never questioned him, not after she surrendered.

  Picking her up, he carried her to the bathroom. Placing her on the counter, he lowered himself, enough to circle her clit with his tongue. He brought her just shy of a climax, then stood up, grinning at her. She silently cursed him while he spun her around, pushing her body onto the counter. Tying her hands behind her, she could see everything from the mirror. With three fingers finding her G-spot, he almost brought her to an orgasm, then he pulled out again. In the mirror, where they could see one another, she was about to light into him when he entered her roughly from behind. Leaning down to her ear, he said, “I will let you come now.”

  When he picked up his speed, she became more demanding. “Fuck me harder, Nolan. I want it rough.” Never in her life did she imagine sex would be enjoyable this way. But it was, and it was because she was with Nolan.

  He slowed for a minute, and when their eyes locked in the mirror, he said, “Say it, sweetness. I need you to say it, again.”

  She looked up, and they both had tears in their eyes. He needed this reassurance each time. Her strong man, who knew what she needed before she knew, had to be told repeatedly how he was the one for her. “I choose you, I choose you—always.”

  “We need to make some decisions,” Nolan declared as he stretched his body, waking up in her arms.

  “Do we? Can’t we stay on this farm forever?”

  “My money will only stretch so long. I have enough to last us the six months plus some, but I’ve got to get you a passport and a valid ID. It’ll take me some time.”

  Mikayla asked, “We can stay here until we can start our life in Edmonton?”

  “Yes, but until we have your new identity, we can’t risk going to town together.”

  “But the farm, am I able to be a part of this farm for now? I mean, I’ve seen a little of it, but I would love to explore.”

  The look he conveyed to Mikayla was one of hope but laced with doubt. She intercepted his concern and finally said, “You know, I would want to explore it with you anyway.”

  “Okay, I’m sorry. I love you, Mikayla. Of course, I want to trust you.”

  She gave him a similar look. “I want to trust you too,” she said in her touché sort of way.

  He laughed at her. “Okay, so this is not the most traditional relationship, and we certainly have some trust issues.”

  She grabbed his hand and interlaced her fingers with his. “But you are right about something. I love you, and I’m not going anywhere. You are my future.”

  Her words brightened his face. “Okay, where do you want to begin?” It was now mid-April still cold for an Alberta late spring. “I don’t know. I would love to take a blanket, go for a walk down the stream, and end up in one of those old barns for a while. Drink some wine, make love. Maybe bring a little portable heater. Get lost for a while,” she said, leaning into him, her provocative hints understood by Nolan when he smacked her ass playfully.

  “I have an idea. Let me get the Hummer heated up, and we can take that around the property. I’ll show you all there is on this 200-acre farm, and we can certainly get lost somewhere.”

  “With wine?”

  Walking up to her, he pulled her body against his. “I’m not enough for you?”

  “Well, yes, but wine would make it even better.”

  They had been on the trails for hours as he wound in and out of the various areas of the property. “This is so pretty. Can’t we make a life for ourselves here?”

  “That’s not an option, but we can always spend holidays here.”

  She laughed when he stopped the Hummer and turned to her. “What is so funny?”

  “I guess I’m going to have to start talking like a Canadian. Holidays? What other funny words will I have to replace in my American lingo?”

  “Ah, you are making fun of me.”

  “A little, I reckon.” Mikayla teased.

  “Now who sounds funny? Where did you learn ‘I reckon’?”

  “My grandparents were from Virginia. Every once in a while, the five summers I spent with them on their farm come out.”

  “I’ll teach you all you need to know. But for now, why don’t we find a barn to get lost in?”

  She turned to the tree line about a quarter of a mile to her right. “What is that over there? Is that still your land?”

  Nolan looked at the land and quietly said, “Um, that is not our land. Jenkins, the crazy SOB who lives a couple of kilometers down the road, owns it. You must promise never to go past the tree line. I never know what sort of crazy shit he may have over there.”

  “Okay,” Mikayla replied casually.

  Taking her chin, he said, “No, seriously, Mikayla, promise me you won’t ever go over there.”

  She grabbed his arm. “You have kept me safe up to this point. I promise. I’ll never go over there.”

  Relief swept in Nolan’s face, and they continued their drive until they came upon one of the six barns on his property and did as they planned to—they got lost in the barn for a while, a long while.

  Taylor

  It was her first college class, and though the professor’s last name was one she recognized, she certainly wasn’t expecting them to be the same family. She trudged through this class with the determination that economics wouldn’t eat her alive. She often wondered, Who would ever major in this horrible course? It was all she could do just to make it through the session, which was made a little more enjoyable by the professor’s assistant. She’d often ask him questions, just to see the dimples in his cheeks. She was coming into her own, finally, confident in herself and her choices.

  Needless to say, if she could have made a choice, it would certainly have been this boy, but he wasn’t a boy. He had to be at least five years older than she was, but after a certain age, that sort of difference didn’t quite matter. She never got the same vibe from him, though he would stare at her during tests.

  By and by, she was happy. Though she was living at home until the beginning of the fall semester, she had a little introduction to college life. After leaving class one summer afternoon and checking out that guy’s dimples one last time, she said to herself out loud, “Yep, I think I will like college quite a bit.”

  Libby

  Jenna was married. Her baby, the firstborn, was now off on her own, and Blake had spoken of a girl who caught his fancy in the class he’d been assisting his father with. “Your dad will flip,” she mentioned on the fly.

  “I know. I don’t plan to do anything about it until she’s no longer a student,” he mentioned. “Anyway, with me finishing my degree, I won’t be a quote unquote employee anymore.” Libby was ecstatic that he was following Mikayla’s advice. Football was no longer a viable option, but he had the chance to help others. Something she knew would bring him pleasure.

  Delaney was still a constant in her life, and she enjoyed the time in which they healed each other. Just as if Libby always knew something was missing in her life, Libby could sense Delaney knew she was missing out on a full-time mama. “Don’t worry, honey, I got your back,” she’d say to her daily, knowing she could never replace her mother, just like Delaney could never replace Mikayla. They both knew loss, and they’d always share this connection.

  Looking back on the past five months, Libby never wanted to playback or hit rewind on that hell. Her strength was resolved, and only for that reason, she felt she could forge ahead.

  30

  Present

  Ten weeks after the first letter

  Taylor

/>   The moisture in the air shifted the second Blake stormed in the door. Taylor, still oblivious to where her husband had disappeared to so quickly, only cared that he was home. It was then she realized her heart no longer belonged to him. In the understanding that she didn’t want her husband near her or her kids with his ever escalating out-of-control behavior, she knew he’d kill her if she ever planned to leave. She needed help in the form of Libby.

  Her husband was disconnected from his body, and he was not rational anymore. Not that he was rational by human standards normally, but there was no reaching him. Her last words to him, which were only to ask what he’d done on his quick trip, did him in, and now, unlike the past, she not only feared for her life but that of her children. “Dexter, run upstairs and lock the door and only open it for Mommy. You understand?” she said. In his quick departure from the room, she didn’t see what was in her son’s hand.

  It was now or never to maybe say the one thing that could stop him as his eyes grew dark and like those of a stranger she no longer knew. “Mikayla, you hurt her. That is why she left? Right?”

  Now, all she needed was to protect MJ, who was barely just a week old, sitting in her carrier on the floor. “What did you just say?” he demanded, not even understanding the fear that drove his son out of the living room.

  Though she’d said this the day her water broke with MJ, her words packed a punch with the confidence her lost sister-in-law had given her. “I know what you did to Mikayla. You are the reason she left.” Taylor repeated herself, but it didn’t bring back the man she’d fallen in love with. Her words and accusations only fueled his fire.

  “You don’t know shit, and you are just that, a piece of shit.”

  Backing up, trying to maneuver MJ’s car carrier out of his line of sight, she said, “Mikayla came to see me a month ago. She had a feeling you had moved on to your wife, and she wasn’t wrong, you know.”