by Tiana Cole
Finally, she stepped back, letting him enter and almost groaned as he held up a pizza. Her stomach rumbled, letting her know that she had forgotten to eat, too wrapped up in her work to stop.
“I thought you might want a little late night snack. You probably didn’t even have dinner,” Ayden said as he put the still steaming pizza box on the counter and lifted the lid. She really did groan this time as she inhaled the delicious scent and went straight for a piece, not even bothering to answer him.
“Oh my god, this is so good,” Alicia mumbled the words, muffled as they were by the bite of pizza she was chewing and even still, she couldn’t help but notice the way Ayden’s eyes had shifted to her lips, his ocean blue gaze going molten as he watched her. She looked away, trying to break the tension before it pulled them both under. She knew she needed to talk to him before they got carried away.
With a sigh as she left the pizza behind she turned back to the living room, reaching her hand out for Ayden’s and dragging him with her as she went. She led him to the couch and resumed her previous post, gesturing for him to take the seat next to her. He looked at her quizzically for a moment, taking in her serious expression.
“Ayden, I’m not sure if you heard, but I had to shut the site down. The program is gone.” She blurted it all out in a rush, thinking it would be better for him if she did it quickly. Just like ripping off a Band-Aid. A very expensive, very painful Band-Aid. Alicia looked up at him through a dark fringe of lashes, trying to gauge his reaction. She watched as emotions flickered across his face: anger, sadness, disappointment, but most of all, resolve.
“I know it had to be done. Nothing is worth risking anymore lives,” Ayden said the words softly, and she was struck by the hard edge of sincerity she heard in them, the honesty shining in the depths of his blue eyes. On impulse, she reached over, taking his hand in hers, cradling it in her lap as she thought.
She glanced at him, sure that she was wrong to ever doubt him. Alicia could see that this affected him just as much, maybe even more, than it did her, and she was suddenly glad that he had decided to come over. She was glad she wasn’t alone.
He turned to her, his expression changing as he forced himself to look at her, and it was the look of a man who was about to do something he really didn’t want to do.
“Listen, Alicia, about what happened between us, what happened in Italy,” he paused, shrugging as if not sure how else to go on, but Alicia just stared right back at him, silently willing him to continue. She had no intention of making this any easier for him.
“I just want you to know how sorry I am. I can’t apologize enough for the way I acted. It was completely out of line, and if you wanted to have an abortion, that’s your right, not mine to–”
“Ayden, I need you understand. I need you to understand why I reacted the way I did,” Alicia interrupted him, leaning forward in earnest as his expression turned open on hers. “First off, there never was a baby. It was a false positive. I didn’t stay long enough to take the blood test and I went to my own doctor when I got back. I was never pregnant.” She watched as Ayden took a deep breath before nodding, silently asking for her to keep talking.
“You know that I was in the foster system my whole life, that’s how I met Charlotte.” He nodded again, a small smile curling his lips and she couldn’t help but grin a little back at him.
She remembered the first time Ayden and Charlotte had met. Char had spent most of the time grilling him, but eventually even she had to give in to his charm. Alicia shook her head, dragging herself back to the present.
“What we went through, never having a home, being passed from family to family like we were disposable. Char got lucky. She found a family that cared about her. I was never that lucky, Ayden. I spent my entire childhood dreaming of having a mom and dad that loved me enough to keep me, and I could never, never put my own child through something like that, I could never–” A sob interrupted her and before she even knew what he was doing, Ayden had his arms wrapped around her and was holding her close against him, rocking her back and forth as she fought back the tears that threatened to burst free.
“I know. Hush, Alicia, it’s okay. I know. And I am so sorry you had to go through something like that. But you are the wonderful, strong, kind person you are today because of what you lived through. You survived.
I know I can never apologize enough for the way I acted, I just got so caught up in everything and before I knew it you were gone. You had just run away from me.” He held her even tighter, “Don’t run away from me, Alicia. I’m here for you, no matter what. We can figure it out together, okay? Promise me?”
Alicia turned her head to look up at him, her big brown eyes still tearstained but she nodded.
“Cross my heart,” she said the words automatically, falling back into his embrace, for once in her life, Alicia let herself lean on someone else.
Chapter 18
The dream came upon her quickly. Their faces, the faces of the women who were murdered flashed in front of her eyes in quick succession. Each time their mouths opened, but she couldn’t hear what they were saying.
She tried to move closer, but every step she took was like walking through wet cement. Alicia struggled, crying out to them that she would try and save them, that she was sorry but they continued to haunt her.
Slowly the faces moved closer and she could hear the words they were screaming. She wished then that she couldn’t.
“You killed us.”
“You murdered us.”
“It’s your fault. It’s your fault we’re dead.”
“We’re you, Alicia.”
“We were always you.”
She watched in horror as the faces began to melt. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying desperately to block out the nightmare images but she could still see them. No matter what she did, she could always see them.
Slowly the melting stopped and when she turned to them she already knew what she would see. Her own face reflected back at her, bloodless and mottled and bruised. Alicia tried to scream but no sound came out. She tried to run but there was nowhere to go. Everywhere she turned her own image stared back at her accusingly.
“No, please. Leave me alone,” Alicia cried out, and it was every face crying out the same words. Suddenly, there was another figure, a figure that she knew was evil. That she knew would hurt them, hurt her.
It came slowly closer and closer, somehow without seeming to move at all. As it drew nearer its features began to form and solidify as if he was being carved out of the shadows.
Alicia tried to turn, she tried to run but the cement underneath her feet wouldn’t let her move at all. She was stuck in a trap that she couldn’t escape. She opened her mouth to scream, but before she could get a sound out he was suddenly there. Right in front of her. Snarling down at her as a knife was raised above his head.
Alicia stared up into the familiar deep blue eyes. The shadows drew away all at once to reveal him, standing above her. Her gaze traced each and every feature that she knew so well. It was Ayden. The knife came down with deadly intent and she opened her mouth and screamed.
***
Alicia woke with a gasping breath, sitting straight upright in the large bed as she tried to get her pulse under control. Her hand was at her chest, pressed over her racing heart as she glanced around. The bed was empty except for a note that was scrawled and left on the pillow next to her. It was from Ayden.
Sweetheart, I got called into work. Some last minute emergency that apparently couldn’t wait until a more decent hour. I should be back home later tonight. Don’t go anywhere. Love, Ayden.
She read the words again, the scattered images of her nightmare already fading even if her pulse still pounded like a freight train through her veins. A small smile curved her lips as she read the note once more. Alicia could so easily picture the good natured annoyance as he penned it. She let it flutter back onto the pillow and dragged herself out of the giant bed. As much as she would
love to follow the note’s directive and stay in bed all day, she knew after that nightmare that sleep was a long way off.
Finally, she pulled herself out of the bed and walked to the bathroom with a yawn. Fifteen minutes later she was showered, dressed, and feeling slighly more alive than she had been after her night of restless sleep.
She glanced at the clock. Almost noon. Alicia shook her head thinking that Ayden had probably been at work for hours already. She really had to work on her sleep schedule. But she was just so used to staying up all night, working through the midnight hours. She shrugged, her brain already moving on to the next problem at hand. Finishing up the next project that she had been working on.
Everything that had happened had put a halt to her own progress and she knew she should get back to the office.
Before she could make up her mind whether to go back to her own place and work or go into the office that she had been MIA from for far too long, her stomach rumbled loudly reminding her that breakfast was long overdue.
With a grin she hurried into Ayden’s incredible kitchen. It was almost restaurant quality, in fact, she was sure there were some small shops in Los Angeles that would kill to have a kitchen this nice. In no time, she had eggs scrambling on the flat top grill and the sizzle of bacon filled the room.
The toaster dinged that her toast was done and she reached to grab it, tossing it back and forth between her hands until it cooled enough to handle.
A few minutes later she was happily munching on her breakfast as she watched the coffee brew like a hawk waiting to latch onto its prey. Alicia made no bones about it. She needed her coffee and Ayden’s espresso machine was like holy grail of coffee makers.
She barely even waited for the pot to finish brewing before she poured the dark brown liquid into a mug with a sigh of pleasure. She took a tentative sip, knowing full well she was about to burn off several taste buds, but she couldn’t resist.
Alicia wandered around Ayden’s house, pausing when she got to a little end table that had a framed picture of a couple. She held back a little gasp as she picked it up and realized it was them.
A picture he must have gotten from the photographer at the launch party of the website all those months ago. She couldn’t believe how carefree they looked in the photo. She was smiling into the camera but Ayden’s eyes were locked on her, his expression so tender that it brought an ache to her chest.
She reached up and traced the image with a single finger, sighing as a mixed bag of emotions filled her. It had been two days since they had shut down the dating website and, thankfully, there had been no more reports of murdered women.
She thought of the terrible dream she’d had the night before but tried to shake it off. The feeling of disquiet lingered and she turned to grab her purse as she finished off the cup of coffee, determined to get to work, and hopefully take her mind off of the disturbing thoughts.
She hated that she could doubt Ayden like that, believe him capable of something so terrible but her nightmare still echoed through her mind making it impossible to ignore. With a huff of annoyance, Alicia grabbed her bag just as her phone buzzed. With a sigh, she dug her cell phone out of the bottom of her purse, and not recognizing the number, put it to her ear.
“Hello?” she said shortly.
“Is this…Alicia? Alicia Banks?” Her heart began to race at the terror-filled female voice that crackled through from the other line.
“Hello? Yes, I’m Alicia. Can I help you?” she responded immediately, freezing in the middle of Ayden’s living room.
“Oh god! I…Please. I’m being held hostage by the dating site killer. He said…he said he killed those other women and he’s going to kill me, too, unless… god, please help me.” Her words trailed off as the woman on the other line broke into sobs and Alicia’s heart stopped altogether.
“Unless what? He’ll kill you unless what?” She heard a deeper, more masculine voice in the background, but his words were muffled and indistinct, his voice distorted.
“You have to go to the corner of Grace and Waveland. You have an hour to get there. If you’re not…If you don’t go there within the hour he said he’s going to kill me.” She broke down again, tears choking her words but they hit Alicia with all the force of a bullet shot to the heart.
“Listen, don’t be afraid. Just hold on. I’ll get the police, I’ll–”
“No! No, he said if you call the police, he’ll know. And he’ll kill me as soon as you do.” The woman’s voice was pure panic.
“I…I will do as he says. Just hold on, okay? Can you tell me…” Alicia didn’t even bother to finish the sentence. The other line had gone dead. Thoughts flew through her head, plans that were rejected. She remembered her dream, the accusation in the murder victim’s eyes. She couldn’t be responsible for another death.
She couldn’t have any more blood on her hands. And then another thought came, one that she couldn’t ignore. Because she knew now, this was definitely about her. And if it was Ayden behind these terrible crimes, maybe she would have some chance of talking him out of it. Or at least buying enough time for that poor, innocent woman to get away and call the police.
Because if it was Ayden, he was more than tech savvy enough to be able to track her call and see if she called the cops. Alicia looked at the clock on her phone. She had fifty eight minutes left.
Optimism flowed through her and she dialed Ayden’s phone number, hoping harder than she ever had that he would pick up, but after the fifth ring it went to his voicemail. She hung up without leaving a message.
With trembling hands, she scrawled a quick note to him and left it on the coffee table that sat in the middle of the living room telling her what had happened and where she was going.
She didn’t know what she would do if she found out that Ayden really was behind the murders, but she had to find out, and more importantly, she had to try and save that woman.
Slowly, she picked up her phone and tried one last desperate effort to get through to someone. She called Charlotte, desperately aware of the clock continuing to tick down on that woman’s life. It would take at least forty five minutes to get to that intersection. And she had to get there. She had to save that woman.
Alicia almost broke down in tears when Charlotte didn’t answer the phone and she left a garbled, rambling voice message saying the she loved her and she was sorry and that she had to do this before hanging up and rushing from Ayden’s house.
As she walked, she tried not to think about what was about to happen. She could only focus on saving that woman who was about to die because of her and the thought broke her heart in two.
Alicia got the intersection with just minutes to spare, but when she arrived there was nothing to be found there but an abandoned factory and empty parking lot.
Alicia looked around, searching for any clue or sign of life. She reached for her phone, about to call the police no matter what the consequences when a blinding pain collided with the back of her head. She crumpled to the ground in a boneless heap and the entire world went black.
Chapter 19
Everything was darkness. Darkness and pain. It radiated from the spot in the middle of her skull and sent waves of agony shooting through her as she tried to move. Alicia groaned, or at least she tried to but it came out just a muffled grunt around the gag stuffed in her mouth.
She tried to blink open her eyes, but even the tiny bit of light illuminating the dark room sent needles of pain stabbing through her head. She tried to move, tried to remember where she was or how she had gotten there, but it was all a blur.
Finally, she was able to crack one eye slightly open and shut it again. It all came back in a rush then. Waking up at Ayden’s house, getting the distressed call and then rushing to the intersection she was supposed to go. Where she was supposed to meet the killer of the other two victims. Alicia could have kicked herself. What the hell had she been thinking? She hadn’t been, that had been the problem. All that had been in her
mind was saving that woman. Making sure that another person didn’t die because of her.
Well, she would have kicked herself if she had been able to move at all, but as her mind started to function a little better, she realized that she was tied up. There were ropes holding her ankles together and another length tied around her wrists. The skin on her arm was raw were the rough material had rubbed against it but it paled in comparison to the fear that shot through her at the vice that sounded in the dark room.
“Ah, good. You are awake. Finally. I was getting a little worried that I had hit you too hard.” It was a male voice, and exceedingly familiar. Shock soon followed fear and she tried to turn to face the person who had caused so much pain and terror the past weeks. No it couldn’t be. It still seemed so impossible for her, unfathomable even. But he was there, standing in front of her, living proof that she had been wrong, so wrong, the whole time.
“Marcus? Tell me you didn’t do this. Tell me you didn’t kill those women.” Alicia tried to get the words out but again it was muffled and distorted by the gag still shoved in between her teeth. Her jaw was beginning to ache from being forced open for so long and she wondered briefly how long she’d been unconscious. Marcus just laughed at her attempt at speech.
“No, don’t worry, Alicia. It’s my turn to talk, and your turn to listen. You’ve never listened to me, not really. And now you have no choice.” Alicia flinched at the harsh tone in Marcus’s voice, a tone she had never heard before and it left no doubt in her mind that he was unstable. More that unstable. He was downright insane. But he was also right about one thing.
She had no choice but to lay there on the cold hard floor of the room and listen to whatever he wanted to say. Her mind wrestled with what to do, what was her best chance for getting out of there alive and she could only pray that the many years they had worked together would be enough to save her.