Shadows: A Love Ever After Series

by Amber Lacie

  It has been an hour since I have heard from Evan. It is just past seven o’clock. The sun is starting to set. The fear of the night and darkness eat at me.

  Rebecca has brought us drinks and some snacks over the past couple of hours. The food has barely been touched, but we’ve run out of coffee twice. The room is quiet and the tension is palpable in the air.

  My phone rings, every feeling of hope that I am holding onto, rushes to the surface. I swallow twice to find my voice, as I answer the phone.

  “Theron…Thank fuck…Don’t move unless you have to. You wait until I get there. Inform your men. Anyone who so much as touches her before I get there will be personally eliminated by me. I mean it, Evan. You wait for me, unless you don’t have a choice. Do I make myself clear? Good.”

  I run my hands through my hair. Taking a deep breath I turn to face her family. “Evan found her. Ben has her locked up in a house on the other side of town that he is renting under a fake name. They don’t have any visuals on her yet, but they believe her to be either in the basement or attic. They have visuals on Anne and Ben, but nothing on Eve yet. I am going there now. Phillip, Robert, you may join me if you’d like. Paul, stay here with Kayla and Linda. I don’t want to risk anymore lives, if I don’t have to.”

  Robert grabs my arm as I walk away, “What will you do when you find her?”

  “I’ll take her home with me, where she belongs.”

  “And when you find Ben?”

  “For his sake, I hope the police beat me there. I plan on killing him.”

  Eve

  A warm breeze blows across my skin, I am back on the beach again, and I find myself sitting on a dock with my toes just barely in the water.

  “Have you decided, yet?”

  I turn my head, and my heart breaks, knowing this is only a dream. “I thought that you left me. Didn’t we already say our goodbyes?”

  “We did, but I think you need me now. Are you going to go to him?”

  “Yes, I’m just not ready yet. I’m so tired, Matt. I can’t find the strength to open my eyes. I don’t want this to be real. I want to wake up warm and safe in my bed. What if when I wake up, everything I had is gone? What if I don’t get to see him again?”

  “Shh. Don’t think like that. He’ll be there for you, I promise.”

  “How do you know? What if I’m hurt too badly, what if they took my happiness from me?”

  “I don’t know. I just do. I can stay for a while if you want, but I’m going to need you to try and open your eyes soon. Staying here won’t help you. If you stay too long, I’m afraid you won’t be able to go back.”

  “Just stay with me a little while. I just need to rest a little longer.”

  We sit on the docks for a while longer. My head is resting on Matt’s shoulder. I hear someone call my name, but I don’t see anyone else around. I look up at Matt with questioning eyes. He smiles as he says, “Go. Open your eyes for me. Just try.” His voice fades and I feel something wet on my skin.

  A warm cloth brushes over my eyes, and I try to pull back my head. It doesn’t matter, I know that I can’t go anywhere.

  “I’m sorry that it’s gone this far, Eve, but I can’t go back. I hate the way your face looks. Ben got a little carried away, but I calmed him down. Can you try and open your eyes for me?”

  “No.” My voice is barely a whisper. My head is throbbing, and my body is in so much pain that I am having a hard time focusing.

  “I need you to try. Ben is going to call Theron with a deal. If everything goes right, we’ll leave you here and we will be out of the country before anyone finds us. Theron is just going to finance our little trip. Once we have the money, and we make our landing, I’ll call from a prepaid phone and let him know where you are.”

  “I don’t understand why?”

  “Eve, we have been over this already. Your boyfriend got involved and took something that I wanted from me. Now I am taking something of his. The only difference is that I’m giving what I took back.”

  “No.” I swallow, trying to wet my throat.

  I feel nauseous as I try to open my eyes. My left one won’t open at all, but my right eye opens just barely enough for me to be able to see around me. My vision swirls and sways, and my thoughts won’t process. I can’t form the words that I need to say. I try to focus on Anne; she is sitting at the end of the bed that I am tied to.

  Trying to gather my bearings is wearing on me. My head lolls to the right. I notice that the windows are boarded up with what looks like cabinet doors. There is old gray and red carpet on the floors. It looks like the ceiling has carpet on it as well.

  My stomach knots, as I try to focus on the room around me. I close my eye and take a deep breath through my nose. My mouth fills with spit and I swallow. I have nowhere to go if I get sick now.

  “Damn Eve, any color you had left in your face just disappeared. How far down are your thoughts taking you?” Anne laughs, as if she has just told a joke.

  Stretching with my fingers on my left hand, I can make out the edge of the bed, letting me know that I am closer to the edge of the bed on that side. Turning my head to the left, I feel a sharp pain sear through my cheek, as my face lies against the mattress.

  I have little room to move with my arms, but I can’t move my legs at all. The knot in my stomach rolls and I know that I can’t hold it back anymore. I push my shoulders to the left and vomit, trying my best to get it on the floor and not the bed. I don’t want to lay in my own puke.

  “What the fuck, Eve? Jesus Christ! That’s just disgusting.”

  Loud footsteps enter the room. “What’s disgusting?” It seems Ben is back.

  “Eve just vomited all over the place. I didn’t sign up for this shit. We were supposed to keep her until we got our money. In no part of the deal, did I agree to almost killing her, or cleaning up her puke. This is fucked up. Did you call him, Ben?”

  “Yeah I called him. He has the account numbers. I am watching the bank. Once it is transferred, we are ready to go. Car is packed.”

  His loud footsteps get closer to the bed. He grabs my face, gripping my cheeks in his hand and turns my head to the right. He holds my face still, as he smacks my left cheek. Pure white fire burns through my body.

  “Bet you could use some of that ginger ale now, couldn’t you?”

  I say nothing. Tears slide down my cheeks, as I try to catch a sob trying to escape my throat. With every breath I take, my chest pinches. I am fighting so hard to keep my focus. I moan out in pain, as someone tries to move my legs.

  “What the hell would ginger ale do for her? She’s puking because you’ve beat the shit out of her.”

  “Not where it would count, I haven’t. She better hope it doesn’t come to that.” His footsteps fade and I hear Anne call after him.

  “What does that mean, Ben?”

  “Oh, Eve, she doesn’t know.” Tsk-tsk. “Look whose keeping secrets from her friends. Eve is pregnant, Anne. Surprise. Surprise!” He laughs as his voice trails off.

  “Pregnant? Fuck. Eve, I didn’t…I didn’t know…I’m sorry.”

  There is a loud crash downstairs and Anne takes off. I hope someone else is here, someone who can help me.

  I swallow a couple of times, to wet my throat and take a couple of deep breaths to fill my lungs with air. I scream with every single breath that I have left. I scream for Theron, I scream for me, and I scream for what we were supposed to have.

  There is another loud crash. I can hear a woman scream, followed by another loud crash. The voices are getting louder, but none of what they are saying is making any sense. Everything is muffled. There is an odd popping sound that I have never heard before, and then everything in the house goes still. There’s another scream. Someone yells for no one to move. It is quiet and my vision starts to fade.

  No. Damn it! I need to stay awake. Think of Theron, think of anything. Don’t fall back to sleep. Scream or do something, anything.

  My mind is racing wit
h ways to keep me alert, to keep me holding onto hope. Come on, Eve. Focus on what is around you.

  I stretch my fingers in my right hand, feeling soft linen between my fingers. My eye roams the room, noticing the carpet isn’t just on the floor and ceiling, there’s some on the walls as well. There’s also doors nailed up sideways along the walls.

  Where am I? There is no closet or any furniture. It is just me, tied to a bed in a room with no lights.

  The sun is going down, and darkness starts to fill the room. With the darkness coming for me, fear takes over my mind. I swear that I hear footsteps getting closer to the room. I don’t want to look. I close my eyes and try counting to ten. I make it to five, before I fall deep down the rabbit hole once more. I feel like I am falling, spinning, around and around. My body sways and turns. I lose all control over my mind, and I let go, falling into the black abyss waiting for me at the bottom of the hole.

  Theron

  My phone rings before I even have a chance to leave. “Theron.”

  “Good evening Mr. Rowe. I have something of yours. If you want her back, you will need to do exactly as I say. I am going to give you ten different account numbers. I want you to wire four million dollars to each account directly. Once I have acquired the funds and make it safely out of the country, I will call you with the coordinates of her location. The police are not to be involved. I will know if they are. I am not to be followed by anyone, including your security team. If for any reason something goes wrong, or I even get the sense of you disregarding my rules, I will kill her.”

  Bile rises in my throat, as I realize who is calling me. It’s Ben.

  I wave to Robert and Phillip to stop. Ben is rambling about money and accounts. I motion Robert over to me and I have him take out his phone, so I can record the account numbers. He wants four million dollars deposited into ten different accounts. I immediately agree. There is nothing that I wouldn’t give to have her safe and back in my arms. What he doesn’t realize is that I already know where she is. He also doesn’t realize that there is a tactical team already in place, waiting to take him out.

  Robert and Phillip slide into the car, as I shut my door. I race through town, once again, blatantly ignoring every traffic law in place. I pull up across the street from the address that Evan gave to me.

  It is an ordinary, gray Victorian style house with white trim. It looks like every other house on this street. The landscaping is well kept and there are even flowers planted along the sidewalk, leading up to the front steps. Nothing looks out of place, until I focus on the windows.

  The upstairs and basement windows look like they have been boarded up from the inside. There is no sign of other cars parked near the house.

  Evan and his group have parked several blocks away, arriving on foot. I can see them in their black camo gear, flanked around the house. I doubt anyone in that house has a clue to what is going on out here.

  “Stay here. I’m going to meet up with Evan, and go from there. I need you two to wait for the police. Let them know we are in the house with the suspects. I’m going to go get Eve.”

  Neither her brother nor dad make a sound. I give them a nod of my head and step out of the car. I walk down the road a bit and approach it from the other side of the street. Evan meets up with me, informing me of where his tactical team is located and hiding.

  “Have you called the police, yet?”

  “Just got off the phone with Detective Hallows. They are on their way, but he warned us not to do anything rash.”

  “Rash? They have my Eve in there. God only knows what they have done to her.”

  “Sir, with your permission, we would like to head inside. My alpha team has a read on her. She’s reported to be upstairs. Two of my bravo team are already in place inside the basement. No words on any other movement at this time.”

  “Do it.”

  “Theron, I must warn you that what we may find might be horrific. I can’t guarantee what we will see when we enter the house.”

  “You think I don’t fucking know that, Evan? You think I don’t know? There was blood at the store for fuck’s sake. Her God damn fingernails were stuck in a floor board. You get in there, and you give me an all clear. I don’t care what you have to do, but you do it now. I want in there, and then I want him!”

  “Sir.” Evan speaks into his left shoulder, and the men start moving by pairs into the house. The sun is starting to go down, giving the surrounding trees long shadows.

  I wait in their cover, until I see one of Evan’s men wave to me from the doorway. I stay close to the frame of the house as I approach.

  Carefully taking the steps up to the front door, I enter the house, walking into a very large room, which is basically empty except for a small table and a lamp.

  There is a large doorway leading back to the kitchen through a long hallway. I can see a trail of blood leading from the back hallway to the stairs to my right. My Eve is up the stairs.

  Evan motions to his men, closing his fist and pulling his arm down. Everyone drops to their knees, guns ready. Someone pulls me against the wall; my heart is beating so hard. It is eerily quiet. I can hear someone laughing above us. Then a door creaks open, followed by heavy footsteps. I can hear each step they take, as the stairs creak and groan underneath their weight. My head grows dizzy waiting. I realize that I am holding my breath. It’s Ben, I can see him clearly now. I want to rush at him, take his throat in my hands and squeeze every last breath of his life out of him. I want to watch him die. I don’t realize that I am starting to move towards him, until an arm reaches out, pulling me back against the wall.

  Ben steps off the last step, turning towards the back of the house. He doesn’t realize that danger is waiting for him right around the corner. He must see one of Evan’s men because he takes off running the other way into the living room, where I am waiting with two other men against the wall. Ben bolts for the front door, but one of the men beat him to it. He blocks the door, knocking Ben back into the room. He falls into the table, as he tries to gain his footing. I stand, as Evan’s men tackle him to the ground.

  Ben tries to fight them off, but his strength is nothing compared to theirs. They hold him to the floor, his arms bent behind his back. One of the men zip ties Ben’s wrists together. Then they pull him up onto his knees, dragging him to the center of the room.

  I see Evan motion out of the corner of my eye. Someone else is coming. They must have heard the noise. I slink back up against the wall.

  The footsteps are soft, slow, and cautious. They know something is wrong. Then I hear the rawest feral sound that I have ever heard in my life. My body jolts to life. Eve is screaming. It is loud, awful blood curdling screams. I charge towards the hallway, as Anne reaches the bottom of the stairs. I trip over my feet and crash into a wall. One of Evan’s men reaches to grab Anne as she screams, but she is too quick.

  She spins around, grabbing something from the back of her pants. She is holding a pistol, aimed directly at me. Everything stops. I watch, as she slides the safety off on the gun. It is obvious that she has done this before. I close my eyes and take what I think is going to be my last breath.

  “Don’t move. Put your weapon on the ground!” My head snaps up and my eyes open to see Evan and his men with their guns drawn on her. She looks over her shoulder, towards the back door and then back at me. She lowers her arms, as she realizes that she is surrounded. Tears stream down her face in a silent cry. I wait for someone to move, and then I notice one of Evan’s men coming closer. She sees him too. She looks at him and then back at me. I watch as her expression goes vacant, as she gives up all hope. I don’t want to make any sudden movements, but I want to get to Eve. I take a small step forward.

  Anne catches me by surprise, as she spins her body while pulling the trigger, hitting Ben square in the chest. His body twists, as he falls to the floor. His eyes are open and vacant, as I watch his blood pool underneath his limp body. Anne screams as Evan’s men grab her, knocking th
e gun out of her hand.

  The front door flies open and a SWAT team swarms the house. Their guns are pulled, directly aimed at the rest of us. I hear someone yelling at them to hold from the outside. One of them yells for us to drop our weapons. With Evan’s signal, his men lay their guns at their feet and raise their hands in the air. Detective Hallows walks in, greeting me with a shake of his head.

  “I said don’t do anything rash. This looks rash.”

  “We had it under control.”

  “Is that so? How’d this happen?” He gestures with his head over in Ben’s direction.

  “Ah, that. Well, you can ask the lady in the hall. I believe she can recall every detail for you.”

  He gives me a nod of his head, and motions for his men to lower their weapons. After receiving permission from the detective, Evan and his men retreat outside.

  I am standing at the bottom of the stairs, staring straight up into a black abyss. My Evelyn is up those steps.

  “Let my men go first, they will make sure that the house is all clear, and that no one is left hiding up there ready to surprise us. Good?”

  “Fine, but I want up there. I don’t want anyone touching her, unless they have to.” I wait for what feels like an eternity at the bottom of the stairs, watching the swat team carefully climb each step, making sure that everything is all clear for me to join them. The detective stands at the top of the stairs and flashes a light towards me.

  “Come up, but I want to warn you that this is bad. We have a medic on standby outside. We are going to need them to be able to move her. She needs immediate medical attention.”

  I nod my head and swallow the bile in my throat. With every step that I take, my body comes alive. It is as if my soul recognizes her before my mind does.

  Nothing could have prepared me for what I found when I walked into the room. Everyone has their flashlights on, trying their best to illuminate the small, dark attic. My eyes rest on the horror that is before me.