Losing Her (Lost and Found Book 1)

by K. S. Marshall

  That’s when I saw the blood.

  Rod wasn’t kidding when he said there was blood everywhere.

  From my vantage point, I could see a pool of blood where the gunshot victim was laying and then a long trail of it leading toward the forest. I found the trail to be the most peculiar, considering there wasn’t a source for it. I considered walking toward the group of people, but stopped myself, thinking better of it.

  If I walked over there, Rod would send me away again. He thought I was too close to the case. Too emotionally invested. He didn’t want me to see something small and take off on it, in case it wasn’t significant enough. To an extent, he was right. I was too emotionally invested in this case and I would run with any possible clue. In terms of how I normally handled cases, my head wasn't in the game properly, but

  I was fighting like hell to get Alina back. She was my everything and she was worth losing my head over.

  Which was precisely why I quietly slipped off the rock and followed the trail of blood into the forest. Dawn was just over an hour away. If the blood didn’t belong to the guy who had left in the ambulance, it belonged to Alina or Jason. Which meant I would find something in the forest.

  I shined my flashlight over the forest floor, following the trail of blood. Occasionally, bloodied prints would end up on trees, but the majority of it stayed on the ground. The deeper I moved into the woods, the less blood I encountered. Something happened out here. My stomach was in knots contemplating different scenarios. I tried to reason it could have been someone else’s blood, but behind my eyes all I could see was Alina bleeding out as she ran for her life.

  Tears prickled my eyes, but I wouldn’t let myself cry. I needed to be strong right now. I needed to find her. The blood was fresh. Even Rod had said so too. My hope had dwindled down to a flickering ember in my chest, but it was all I had to hold onto and I clung to it with every ounce of my life.

  After walking for nearly a mile, the blood trail stopped. Looking around, I was standing in the middle of another small clearing. The canopy overhead was dense, but there were a few fallen trees that made this particular section seem more open than the others. My phone vibrated again. It was Rod:

  Where are you? The guy they took away was her former bodyguard.

  He said she ran into the forest. We’re sending a team in there now.

  I was right. She had run in here. That dying ember of hope flickered one last time. Determination blanketed me and I picked up my

  flashlight, shining it in front of me to take another step. Just as my boot crunched a pile of leaves, I heard a loud crack before something whizzed by me, then ricocheted off a nearby tree.

  I paused. Looking around for the source of it, but I couldn’t see anything that stuck out. Counting to sixty, I took another step. The same crack, only I recognized it as a bullet when it crashed into a pile of leaves behind me. Someone was shooting at me.

  “Alina?” I called out. My voice sounded hoarse and hollow,

  “Alina, is that you?”

  “Stay right there! I have a gun!”

  My knees felt like they were going to buckle underneath me at the sound of her voice. Warmth that I hadn’t felt in weeks enveloped me and the tears I’d been holding back streamed freely down my face.

  “Alina, baby,” I called out again, “I found you.” I took another step toward the direction I’d heard her voice. Even though I couldn’t see her, I knew she was there.

  Another bullet whizzed by, a little too close for comfort, stopping me dead in my tracks.

  “I said don’t take another step!”

  Her voice was loud, but wavering. She was scared. Scared of me. I didn’t know how to take that.

  “Baby it’s me. Derrick. Please stop shooting at me.”

  “Then stop coming closer!”

  “Alina, I found you. Let me take you home,” I pleaded, still searching for where she could be hiding, but coming up short.

  Her voice cracked, “I know that it’s you Jason. Derrick’s not coming for me.”

  My heart shattered into a million pieces right then and there.

  How could she not know it was me? She was so terrified, everything sounded like him. The fact that she thought I’d never look for her

  wounded me. Didn’t she know she was my world? That I’d move heaven and earth for her?

  “Baby no,” I choked back tears, “it’s me. Your Derrick. I found you baby. I’ve been looking for you. We’ve all been looking for you.”

  Silence.

  “Please believe me, Alina. I’m here to save you. Let me save you baby. I’m begging you.”

  Tears fell hard and fast down my face. I needed her to hear me.

  I needed to put eyes on her and see that she was alright. I needed her to come home.

  “Alina please. I love you so much. I need you to come home.”

  After several deafening moments of silence, she finally spoke again.

  “Is that really you?” Her voice was small and unsure. I grasped onto the tiny bit of hope laced within it and held on for dear life.

  “Yes baby. It’s me. Come to my voice,” I pleaded.

  “I-I can’t,” she sobbed and I wanted to flay myself open at the sound of her cries. Anything to heal her. “He’s still out there. He’s going to kill me.”

  I pressed my eyelids together tightly. The depth of her fear and pain starting to become more clear. I didn't know what had happened, but I would find out and I would make Jason pay. But my priority at the moment was to get her home safely and I needed her to trust me.

  “Remember the last time we were together? Before I told you that I was falling in love with you?” I paused, praying that she remembered, “That weekend I was your anchor. Let me be your anchor, baby. Let me keep you safe. I promise he’ll never hurt you again as long as I have breath in my body. Let me be your anchor, Alina.”

  The last of my words hung in the air between us. I closed my eyes and clasped my hands together like a prayer. Touching the tips of my fingers against my mouth, I whispered to myself.

  Please God let her hear me.

  Silence stretched on forever. Light was beginning to infiltrate the secluded part of the forest we were in, illuminating it further. I was opening my mouth to ask her again when I heard rustling. I lifted my head and saw her fingers curl over the edge of an overturned tree.

  She barely raised her head. Those nearly black eyes I loved so much peered over at me terrified and afraid. They were wide and wild, frantically dancing around looking for any sign that she wasn’t safe.

  “Alina,” I choked out, tears flowing freely at the sight of her. I began to move toward her, but stopped myself, knowing she was still afraid. “Can I come to you?”

  The rest of her face emerged. She was chewing on her lip, eyes still frantically searching the wooded area for any signs of danger. But they kept flitting back to me. I could barely see her, but what I could see of her expression wrecked me. She was lost, scared, and broken. I gingerly took a step toward her and her eyes snapped over to me. My tear-filled eyes locked in on her wide, fearful ones and I inched closer until I was standing right in front of her.

  “Alina,” I whispered, hoarsely.

  “It really is you,” she said right as a waterfall of tears flowed over her cheeks.

  I reached down and lifted her out of the hole she’d climbed into.

  She felt tiny and small in my arms and whimpered slightly as I adjusted her against me. Her head rested against my chest and I buried my nose in her hair. Even with the dirt, I could still smell her familiar scent.

  “I’ve got you,” I whispered, kissing the top of her head, “Let’s go home.”

  THIRTY SEVEN | Alina

  I hung onto him with every ounce of strength I had left. My arms were too weak to grab onto his neck, so I clutched his t-shirt. I pulled it close to my nose, inhaling the masculine scent that belonged only to him. Realizing that he was right there, in the flesh, made me cry. I wasn’t su
re if I was shaking because of the crying or if I was shaking from being so cold.

  I’d spent the night in the forest. The last time I’d seen or heard from Jason was right before the sedative he’d injected in my arm had taken over my body. When he couldn't find me and walked away, I dragged myself to a nearby log, planning to hide behind it. Instead, I found it had been hollowed out somehow and I was able to hide inside of it. The gun I’d taken from him was my only defense against anything, so I clung to it while I slept.

  Hours later, that’s when I heard it. Someone calling my name.

  The voice had been unfamiliar at first and I worried that it was Jason, coming back to kill me, but it was Derrick. My anchor. Guilt swirled in my belly as I recalled shooting at him repeatedly. But I had been convinced

  he would never be able to save me. In two weeks, Jason had drilled into my head that I belonged to him and no one else would ever want me.

  I could feel Derrick’s face against the top of my head. Every so often, his tears would splash down onto me. I so wished I could stop him from crying, but I couldn’t stop trembling and crying myself. As we neared the edge of the forest, I was blinded by bright lights. I hid my face in his shirt.

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold up guys. Derrick, is that you?”

  His footsteps halted, “Yeah, it’s me.”

  “You found her?!”

  “She was in the forest. We need a medic team.”

  His feet started moving again. People were talking all around us, shouting out words, but I couldn’t hear them anymore. All I focused on was the way he held onto me, the thrumming of his heart in his chest.

  How, even right then, our frantic heartbeats were in sync with each others. Pain racketed my body. Every inch hurting for different reasons, but in his arms I found peace. The peace that had been so violently taken from me.

  We broke through the forest and into the clearing. I glanced out just long enough to see the cabin that held the memories of the worst times of my life thus far. I shuddered against him, closing my eyes and focusing on the moment. On the now. Being in his arms and, more importantly, being safe. People swarmed us, bombarding him with questions, but he silenced them with his gruff tone.

  “Give her some space, guys. She’ll answer questions when she’s ready, but not right now. I need to have her checked out.”

  From seemingly out of nowhere, an ambulance appeared. One woman came out of the driver seat, opened the back door and let another woman climb out. Together they pulled out a bed on wheels and

  Derrick laid me down gently. When he moved to stand, I pulled onto his shirt, not wanting to let him go.

  “Wait, please don’t leave,” I begged, staring at him with tears in my eyes.

  His hard eyes, still full of tears, softened. His fingers smoothed over the top of my head, “I’m never leaving you baby. I’ll be right here.”

  I glanced around furtively, “I don’t want…”

  He gave me a look that was supposed to be firm, but he was still looking at me like I’d break into a million pieces at any moment,

  “You’re hurt. They need to examine you. I promise I’ll be right here.”

  I looked into his eyes for a moment before nodding. He nodded to the paramedics and shifted further back into the ambulance so he was sitting right behind my head. The two stone faced women offered polite smiles as they began examining me, making me wince and gasp at each touch. One did all of the tests, while the other would jot down the results and information she spouted off.

  Tilting my head, I looked for Derrick. He leaned forward, planting a gentle kiss on my forehead.

  “You’re doing great baby. Almost done.”

  I gave him a weak smile in return.

  “Alright sir, I need you to step outside for a moment,” one of the women said, addressing Derrick.

  My eyes went wide with terror, “No!”

  Two sets of eyes looked down at me with surprise. Derrick rested his hand on my shoulder, “Why is that?”

  She hesitated, casting a glance down at me, “We need to do a rape kit test.”

  Tears flooded my eyes, “Derrick..?”

  He moved around to kneel down at my level. He looked about as broken as I felt, “Honey…”

  “No,” I cried, “you can’t leave me.”

  The tears spilled over, but I couldn’t help it. There was no way I could handle him leaving me. Not now.

  “Baby shh,” he tried calming me, “I’m going to step right outside of these doors. I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be right there the whole time.

  But they need to do a full examination of you.” His adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed hard.

  “I don’t want this. You can’t leave me, Derrick.”

  “I’m not leaving you Alina. I’m never leaving you. I’ll be right outside these doors. Please just let them do what they need to do to make sure you’re alright and then I’ll come right back in.”

  I was full on crying, holding onto his arm. His eyes filled with tears, begging me to just let the paramedics have their way. But I was afraid. I was more terrified of being without him than I should have been.

  In some distant part of my head I knew that, but I couldn’t let go.

  He let go of my hand, backing away, “I’ll be right here baby. I’ll talk to you through the door so you know I’m right here.”

  When my grip tightened on him, he painstakingly peeled my fingers off of his wrist. He looked wounded as he backed away, but I started screaming.

  “Derrick no! Don’t leave me here. Please! Please! Don’t go!”

  The doors shut, closing off his tear-stained face from me and my screams turned frantic. One paramedic tried to calm me down but I swung and hit her in the face. She screamed covering her face then the other one handed her a syringe full of something and together they held me down, preparing to inject me.

  “NO! STOP! DERRICK! PLEASE STOP! I’LL CALM DOWN… OH

  MY GOD…DERRICK!”

  I screamed at the top of my lungs and for dear life. Anything but another injection. Anything but another tranquilizer. They successfully

  got the needle into my arm and pushed the drug into my vein. Whatever it was worked quickly. And just as my eyes started rolling around, I saw Derrick burst through the doors.

  “Derrick…please,” I whimpered, a tear rolling down my cheek.

  He pushed the paramedics aside, sliding in to grasp my hand.

  He brought it to his lips, kissing my knuckles. Worry etched in his brows.

  “I’m here, baby. Never again. I’ll never leave you again.”

  I exhaled as the medicine put me to sleep.

  THIRTY EIGHT | Derrick

  -FIVE DAYS LATER-

  I glanced up from the book I’d been nose-deep in for the last few hours. She was murmuring in her sleep and tossing her head back and forth. I checked the IV bag of fluids running through a long tube to her arm, wondering if it was time for another dose of medicine.

  As much as she hated it— and as much as I wished there was another way— she had to be sedated most of the time over the last few days. Her fear of everyone, outside of her immediate family and me, made it nearly impossible for anyone to help her injuries. The many cuts and bruises all over her body were healing up nicely, but she’d also sprained her wrist and broken her ankle. Those two injuries required her to be still and her tendency to violently fight off any medical interventions didn’t help that healing process.

  I reached out and smoothed her furrowed brow with my thumb.

  Whatever she was dreaming about was upsetting her. It seemed like she had nightmares every few hours, usually around the time the sedatives were beginning to wear off. But I maintained my promise to her.

  I didn't leave her side.

  The Prescott’s had turned her bedroom into a makeshift hospital room with around the clock nursing staff and an on-call doctor. I opted to lay on the sofa in her room, rather than crawl into bed with her.

&nbs
p; Partially, to let her injuries heal without risk of getting further damaged, but also because I didn’t know what happened to her and how much she was ready for.

  I knew the extent of her injuries. The doctor had confirmed that she had trauma everywhere, including her most sensitive areas. That had shattered any remaining strength I was holding onto. Knowing that Jason had violated her that way. I wanted to hold her, cry with and for her, promise to make it all better, but she wouldn't talk. In the five days since I’d found her, she hadn’t said anything about it. It was her story to tell, so I waited for her to feel comfortable enough to let me in.