Five

by Blythe, Jane

  “Are you sure?”

  He thrust the bag at Xavier. “This is hers. Do you think she’d just leave it here?”

  Xavier rifled through the bag and checked the wallet just as Jack himself had done, his face growing progressively more concerned. “Okay, let’s check outside. She might not have been gone long.”

  Jack pulled out his gun and rushed for the nearest door. If someone had abducted Laura, they wouldn’t have used the ER’s main entrance.

  He scanned the dark parking lot.

  But saw nothing.

  No signs of Laura.

  No signs of anyone at all.

  His headache morphed into a raging tornado.

  “Jack, look,” Xavier pointed at something on the ground a few feet away.

  Kneeling beside it, Jack picked it up. It was a wig. A blond wig. A blond man had walked past them not long ago while they’d been standing talking outside Eliza’s room.

  It was Malachi.

  Jack knew it.

  Malachi had wanted to come back and make an attempt at reclaiming the girls he thought of as his own. Only he’d known they were looking for him, so he had to come in disguise.

  Seeing them blocking his access to Eliza, he must have decided to grab someone else.

  Laura fit his profile.

  He had taken her.

  Malachi had Laura.

  A glance at his partner confirmed that Xavier had come to the same conclusions.

  “Looks like they're already gone,” Xavier said softly.

  “We might never find her.” Jack was in shock. He could barely think straight. Malachi kept his victims indefinitely. His wife and unborn baby could be gone forever.

  “But he probably won't hurt her, Jack. He wants her alive. He didn’t hurt the other girls, only Eliza as punishment,” Xavier reminded him.

  “He raped them, though,” Jack said tightly. He didn’t think Laura could survive going through that again. He didn’t think he could survive knowing Laura had been put through that again.

  “I know.” Xavier looked pained. “Right now, let’s just focus on the knowledge that it’s highly unlikely that he’ll hurt or kill her. That gives us time to find her.”

  He had to force thoughts of Malachi raping his wife from his mind. If he let himself be consumed by what might be happening to Laura, then he wouldn’t be able to function. And if he couldn’t function, then he couldn’t work on getting his wife back. And Jack had no intention of allowing Malachi to keep his wife and unborn child.

  “We need to talk to Eliza,” Jack stated.

  “Laura said that she thought Eliza was blocking her memories because she’s still scared. What Malachi did to her isn’t going to be overturned instantaneously. But I made some progress with her earlier. If I ask her direct questions she seems to know the answer,” Xavier explained. “We can use some of the information that Ryan and Paige found to try and prompt her memories, but there are no guarantees, Jack. We can't pin all our hopes of finding Laura on Eliza. If she hadn’t already been off the sleeping pills during her pregnancy and then the two months since Arianna was born, then we wouldn’t be getting anywhere with her. We have to be grateful to get whatever information she can give us. You can't be getting frustrated with her if she doesn’t remember, that’s not going to help.”

  Not wanting to waste another second, Jack nodded vigorously and started for Eliza’s room.

  “Jack, Laura is smart and intuitive and good at reading people. She will know what to do and say to keep herself alive. She’ll do her part and survive until we find her. You just have to keep believing that.”

  Clinging to that thought as though he were drowning and it was his life preserver, Jack prayed that it was true.

  * * * * *

  2:51 A.M.

  “Eliza?”

  The voice startled her out of sleep.

  She hadn’t thought she’d be able to sleep and yet she must be so exhausted she had dozed off. She’d even been dreaming about her sisters and their families. Maegan’s family had come for her, and Bethany had gone home, too.

  Apparently, her family was on their way here.

  But did Eliza want to see them?

  She wasn't sure.

  She wanted to go home. Well, more accurately, she didn’t want to go back to Malachi’s. The alternative to Malachi’s was her parents’ house, but right now Eliza couldn’t imagine going back there.

  She had changed so much in the last five years.

  Mentally and even physically.

  She had scars from where Malachi had hurt her during his punishments following all her failed escape attempts.

  And she had a daughter.

  How could she raise Arianna?

  Did she even love the baby?

  Could you love a baby that was a product of your rape?

  Eliza didn’t know.

  But she did know that she wanted the baby to be safe, to be happy, and to have a normal life.

  How could she go back to a normal life after what she’d lived through the last five years?

  How could she be a part of her family again?

  What would she do?

  Would she go back to college and complete her degree? Would she work? Would she fall in love, get married, and have a family?

  She couldn’t imagine doing any of those things.

  So where did that leave her?

  “Eliza?”

  She blinked, realizing she had zoned out and concentrated on Xavier’s concerned face. She was finding it difficult to focus. She recognized the effects of the drugs the doctor had given her. They always left her feeling woozy and disconnected.

  “Honey, we need to talk to you. Do you think you're up to it?”

  Why did he keep calling her honey? He didn’t know her. He had no reason to be nice to her. And yet he had been. He had made her feel safe. Or at least as safe as she could feel under the circumstances.

  But she wanted more.

  She wanted to feel safe. Really safe.

  She wanted to feel loved.

  She wanted to feel not alone.

  She wanted her family, but she also wanted more than that.

  She wanted George.

  Her memories were coming back. She had been dating George for nearly a year when she’d been kidnapped. She had known that he was the love of her life. They had even talked about marriage. Did they want to get married while they were both still in college or should they wait until they graduated? They had never come to a decision.

  By now, George must have moved on. He could be married to someone else by now. Had kids. Five years was a long time. She didn’t expect him to have waited for her. But did he still love her? Or even care about her? Or even think of her from time to time?

  Eliza hoped he did, but she couldn’t blame him if he had simply forgotten about her and gone on with his life.

  “Eliza?” Xavier repeated her name. “Are you with me?”

  No, she wanted to reply. She was so tired. Too tired to try and concentrate. Instead, she gave a small nod.

  “We need to talk to you about Malachi,” Xavier informed her.

  An involuntary shudder rippled through her, and she clutched at the blankets as though they were really a magical force field capable of keeping all the evil in the world away rather than a simple piece of material.

  “Eliza, you’ve been through so much, and that it’s not over has to make it so much harder. But I am promising you that we will find him. Okay? I don’t want you to worry about that,” Xavier soothed.

  How could she not worry?

  She knew Malachi.

  He wouldn’t give up on her and the others so easily.

  Especially her and Arianna.

  He knew that they weren’t really his daughters. But Arianna was, and he wouldn’t give up his daughter without a fight. Her either. She was the mother of his child. In his mind, that made her his property.

  “You're worrying.” Xavier tilted her face in his directio
n. “I can tell. We need you focused; can you do that for me?”

  Unsure whether she could, Eliza nodded anyway. Something was wrong. She could read that in Xavier’s face and in his voice.

  “You remember Laura?”

  Eliza did. Laura had been in here earlier with Maegan, asking her questions. Laura had been abducted, too. She understood. She had understood a lot of things. Things Eliza hadn’t even told anyone. Laura had figured out that she had deliberately overdosed herself to get Malachi to bring her to the hospital. Last time she’d tried that it hadn’t worked, but she had known this time it would. Now that she was the mother of Malachi’s daughter, he wouldn’t let anything happen to her.

  “Malachi took Laura. He came back to the hospital, probably for you and the others. When he realized he couldn’t get to you, he took Laura instead,” Xavier gently informed her.

  For a moment, the world stopped.

  At least, that was what it felt like to Eliza.

  Her eyes stopped working, her ears stopped working, her heart stopped working, her lungs stopped working.

  “Eliza.”

  The sharp voice pricked through the haze she was trapped in. She blinked and the world seemed to start up again.

  “Are you okay?” Xavier was peering down at her, his eyes dark with concern.

  “He came back here?” her voice a breathy whisper.

  “Yes, and he might come back again. He won't get to you; there’s an officer on your door. But we need to find him, Eliza. Before he hurts Laura and before he hurts anyone else.”

  “Eliza, we have Malachi’s house and some of his bank account details, would he have access to money we don’t know about?”

  She shifted her gaze from Xavier to the other man in the room. It was Xavier’s partner, Jack. She remembered him asking her questions earlier tonight. Laura had said that Jack was her husband. He must be in a blind panic knowing Malachi had his wife, and yet he appeared calm and in control.

  Slowly, she nodded. “Yes, he has lots of cash in his house from the settlement.”

  “What settlement?”

  “From the car accident.”

  “What car accident?”

  “When Malachi was thirteen, he was in a car accident. His father was killed, and he was left with serious head injuries. He was in a coma for seven months. The doctors never expected him to wake up.”

  “But he did,” Jack stated the obvious.

  “And he was never the same afterward. The accident changed him.” Eliza wondered whether if Malachi had never been in that accident then none of this would have happened.

  “What can you tell us about Malachi’s family?” Xavier asked.

  Her heart started to pound again. Memories flooded into her mind so quickly she couldn’t cope. They were overwhelming her. There were too many. Things she didn’t want to remember.

  Eliza whimpered, pressing her eyes closed and her fingertips to her temples.

  Desperately, she tried to will the memories away.

  But the flashbacks were so vivid.

  So real.

  Like she was back in Malachi’s house.

  In the basement.

  In the dark room.

  Her naked body was so cold. She was huddled in a corner, her knees tucked up to her chest. She was so used to being hungry by now that her stomach didn’t really notice. But the lack of water was awful. Her body craved it so much it was often all she could think of. She didn’t sleep much, or maybe she did, she couldn’t really tell the difference between asleep and awake. The dark was so complete, so impenetrable, that it seemed alive.

  “Eliza.”

  Someone took her shoulders and shook her. The movement seemed to transport her out of the basement and back into her hospital room.

  “Eliza? Are you with me?” Xavier was perched beside her on the bed, his hands still clutched her shoulders.

  “I don’t want to talk anymore. I'm tired,” she whispered.

  “You remember.” Jack was looming over her.

  She shrunk away from him. “Please, leave me alone.”

  “You're going to tell me what you remember, Eliza,” Jack commanded fiercely. His anger seemed to reverberate off the walls of the small room, growing exponentially larger.

  “Jack, ease up,” Xavier warned. “Pushing her that hard isn’t going to help.”

  He softened his tone, his blue eyes bright with fear. “Eliza. Please. Help me find Laura before it’s too late. She’s eight months pregnant. If we don’t find her before Malachi disappears, then she and our baby will be stuck with him forever.”

  She wanted to help. She really did. But she was so afraid.

  “Eliza, did Malachi talk to you about his family while he had you in that room?” Xavier asked gently.

  She focused on Xavier. Jack’s terror was too much to bear. It made it difficult to concentrate, and it made her own horror grow. But Xavier calmed her somehow. “It was so dark in there,” she said softly.

  “I know, honey. He did that to break you down. But you're safe now. You're here in the hospital. Your family is coming, and we’re not going to let Malachi hurt you again,” Xavier soothed.

  “The darkness got inside me,” she continued. “I don’t know how to get it out.”

  “I’ll help you; your family will help you,” Xavier assured her.

  Nodding absently, Eliza wasn't sure it was possible to remove the darkness that filled her soul. “Malachi doesn’t have any daughters. Well, except Arianna,” she amended.

  “But the fire.” Jack looked confused. “Maegan said he told you all that you were replacements for his daughters who died in a fire.”

  “It wasn't his daughters who died in a fire. It was his sisters. Ariyel, Alice, Angela, and Abigail were Malachi’s sisters,” she explained.

  “Then why did he tell you that they were his daughters?” Xavier looked just as confused as his partner.

  “Because after his father’s death, Malachi thought of himself as the man of the house. It was his thirteenth birthday. They were meant to go for ice cream, but his father stopped to see someone on the way. Malachi’s father was having an affair. He tried to end it, but the woman wouldn’t. She climbed in the car with them. When she realized that she couldn’t have what she wanted, she crashed the car.” The more Eliza spoke, the more details came back to her. “After the accident Malachi wasn't the same.”

  “How was he different, Eliza?” Xavier prompted her when she didn’t continue.

  She shivered as she pictured the lifeless light in Malachi’s eyes. “He was evil. He thought his father had failed his family. He vowed to be different. He was thirteen—a man. He believed it was his job to care for his family, to protect them.”

  “What did he do to them?” Jack asked, his voice quietly menacing.

  “He didn’t let them leave the house. He had … he had a … a sexual relationship with them.” Eliza struggled to force the words out of her throat. “His mother and Ariyel, who was sixteen, right away. His younger sisters from their thirteenth birthday.”

  “Because in his mind, they became adults once they hit thirteen,” Xavier murmured.

  “Malachi was only thirteen. Why did his mother let him do that?” Jack asked.

  “Malachi was evil. He punished them when they disobeyed. His mother was grieving the loss of her husband, and she had nearly lost Malachi, but she was scared of him. Of what he would do. To her and his sisters. He kept them locked up in that house for twenty-three years.”

  “Until the fire?”

  “Yes.”

  “They died in the fire?”

  “Yes. His mother, too. And I think some other woman, but I'm hazy on the details.” Eliza was tired now. Exhausted, really. Completely mentally and emotionally drained.

  Seemingly sensing this, Jack asked, “Do you know where he would go?”

  “He would want to feel close to his family.” Eliza closed her eyes as she thought. “Since the house is destroyed, he can't go
there.” Suddenly, it occurred to her. “Their graves. Malachi will be at the cemetery where his mother and sisters were buried.”

  SIX YEARS AGO

  4:18 A.M.

  Something woke him up.

  Malachi wasn't sure what it was.

  A bad feeling, maybe.

  Glancing at his watch, he saw it was after four in the morning. He was supposed to work until six, but that bad feeling was growing.

  He decided to risk it. Nothing ever happened here, anyway. Malachi worked as a security guard, driving around patrolling the schools and businesses who hired the firm he worked for. Most nights he just drove around a bit then parked his car somewhere and napped. Sure, there had been the odd night where someone had actually attempted a break in, but usually it was just some stupid kids.

  What were the chances that tonight would be one of those rarer than rare nights where he actually had to deal with something?

  Slim.

  Turning the ignition on, Malachi started toward his house. It wasn't more than a ten-minute drive away. Less if he broke the speed limit and ignored any red lights. There weren’t usually many cops about at this time, so he decided to risk it and do both.

  In seven minutes, he was pulling into the street where the house he had lived in his entire life was situated.

  Nothing appeared out of sorts.

  For a moment, he’d panicked that someone had stumbled upon his home. It had been twenty-three years since his accident. Twenty-three years since he had been changed forever. Twenty-three years since he had taken over running his family.

  They all bowed to his every whim now.

  They no longer asked to leave the house. They no longer talked about leaving and getting married and having families of their own. They no longer talked about getting jobs and contributing to the running of the household.

  They had learned that he was the man of the house and that he alone ruled.

  As he pulled into his driveway, nothing appeared out of the ordinary.

  And then he saw it.

  Smoke.

  His house was on fire.

  Malachi was in such a hurry to get to the house that he put the wrong code in at the gate four times before his trembling fingers could do it correctly.