by Blythe, Jane
She barely registered his words. “Where’s Malachi?” She wiggled beneath him, trying to twist sideways to find him. She had to know where he was. She had to know if he was still a threat.
“Lie still,” Jack instructed, placing a hand on her shoulder and forcibly holding her down
“Is he dead?” she asked, refusing to follow his orders.
“Yes, Laura, he’s dead,” he reassured her. “Now, please stop moving.”
“He cut me.” Her eyes widened with surprise, registering what Jack’s hands on her neck were doing. He was trying to stem the flow of blood from the gash on her throat. As if remembering Malachi cutting her made the injury real, it began to throb with a horrible burning pain.
“Yeah, he did, angel, but paramedics will be here any second. Are you hurt anyplace else?” He kept one hand on her neck while his other quickly skimmed her body in search of other injuries.
“All over,” she replied. “I fell when I was running from Malachi. Jack, he … he …” Tears brimmed in her eyes and began to roll down her cheeks, making the cut on her cheek sting. “He tried to rape me.”
“I'm so sorry, honey,” Jack murmured, leaning down to kiss her forehead.
“I fought him off,” Laura continued as though he hadn’t spoken. “And then I ran. I was so scared. I thought he was going to take me away. I thought I was never going to see you or Zach ever again.” Her fear was still so real, so vivid, it hadn’t diminished yet. In fact, it seemed to be growing exponentially inside her. Her sobs grew, becoming more earnest.
“Laura, baby, you have to calm down.” Jack was sounding panicked now, too. “The more upset you get, the more you bleed.”
Laura knew he was right. A neck wound was serious, even if it hadn’t gotten an artery. She was becoming hysterical, but powerless to do anything about it. Her rising stress levels were not good for the cut on her neck or her or her baby.
“Here.” Ryan suddenly knelt beside them and draped a thermal blanket over her violently shaking body. It didn’t help. She knew she was going into shock. Nothing was going to warm her right now.
Jack spared his brother only the most fleeting of glances. “Thanks.”
“Let me hold that; you try to calm her down.” Ryan took over putting pressure on her bleeding neck.
Her husband took her face in his hands and angled it in his direction. “Laura, honey, look at me. Come on, sweetheart, I really need you to calm down right now. Can you do that for me?”
“Eliza?” Fresh anxiety sliced through her. “Malachi stabbed her, is she okay?”
He glanced over his shoulder. “She’s alive. Xavier’s with her,” Jack answered vaguely.
“Jack, I'm sorry,” she began to sob again.
“Why are you sorry, angel?” he asked, confused.
Fear that she had somehow done something to bring this on herself was plaguing her. “I shouldn’t have been walking off on my own, then Malachi wouldn’t have grabbed me. You always tell me to …” She knew it wasn't possible to spend every second with someone by her side, nor did she want to, but she wasn't thinking logically right now.
“Shh, shh.” Jack stroked her tangled hair. “Sweetheart, please, please try to calm down, you're scaring me.”
She was scaring herself. Her breathing was growing erratic, and her heart was hammering in her chest.
Two paramedics dropped down beside them. “Let’s see what we’ve got here.” A middle-aged woman unsnapped her case then pulled away the scarf from Laura’s neck to examine the wound.
As the paramedics began to treat her, Laura let herself fade again. Everything happening around her dissolved into the background. She was vaguely aware of an oxygen mask being slipped on and her breathing eased a little. Hands were skimming her body in search of other injuries and bandages were being applied to her bloody neck. Medications were administered.
Jack just knelt beside her, stroking her dirty hair, untangling the knots with his fingers. Laura worried about putting her husband through another round of traumatized hysteria. It was bound to happen. Tonight’s events wouldn’t leave her any time soon. The feel of the cold metal blade of the knife against her neck was seared into her memory. Knowing that not only could Malachi kill her if he wanted but any accidental slip or movement could also end her life. She was going to have nightmares again and panic attacks. Her agoraphobia would probably also get worse.
Then all of a sudden, something pushed all her fears to the background. “Jack,” she reached blindly for his hand.
“What’s wrong?”
“The baby, I think I just had a contraction.” Her eyes sought his, begging him to do something. It was too soon for the baby to be born.
He turned his own panicked eyes on the paramedics. “Is she going into labor? Can you stop it? She’s only thirty-five weeks.”
“Let’s just focus on getting her to the hospital; they can give her drugs that should hopefully stop the labor, or at least delay it. If she’s even in labor. This may just be Braxton Hicks contractions. Let’s not panic yet. Right now, I'm more concerned about the wound on her neck, and the fact that she’s going into shock,” the paramedic said.
That didn’t help to relieve her anxiety.
It was too soon for their baby to be born.
And it wasn't just that it was early that was stressing her. It was the birth itself. She couldn’t have people seeing her scarred body. Not even doctors. With Zach, she had had to be sedated and have a cesarean because the thought of a natural delivery had caused several hysterical outbursts.
As Laura was bundled onto a stretcher and hurried toward an ambulance, she kept a hold on Jack’s hand and prayed.
Less than an hour ago, she had prayed that she might survive Malachi, and she had. Now she prayed that if she were going into labor the doctors would be able to stop it, and if they couldn’t, that her baby would be born healthy.
* * * * *
3:49 A.M.
“I can't believe I missed so much.” Sofia was staring at her husband in shock.
Ryan had turned up in her hospital room a couple of minutes ago, rousing her from a sleep she hadn’t even known she was in. Apparently, she had finally fallen sleep after Ryan had told her about the stalker trying to run down Paige with a car. She would have thought she was wound way too tightly for sleep, but seemingly not.
Rest had helped, and she was feeling much better. She wanted to get up and out of this bed, but she was still hooked up to an IV. After what Ryan had just told her, she wanted to go and see all the people she loved to make sure they really were okay and her husband wasn't just sugarcoating things so she didn’t stress too much.
“Malachi kidnapped Laura?” Sofia couldn’t believe that had happened. How was Laura going to deal with that? She already struggled to cope with everything else she’d been through.
“Yes, he came back for Eliza and the baby but couldn’t get to them, so he took Laura instead,” Ryan confirmed.
“But she’s okay, right?” She tried to read in her husband’s eyes if he were telling her the truth.
“She has some injuries. Malachi cut her neck. It was bleeding pretty badly, but she’s going to be okay,” Ryan assured her.
“Cut her neck? She could have died!” she exclaimed.
“She was lucky the knife didn’t get an artery,” Ryan agreed.
“There’s something else.” Sofia could tell by the way her husband wouldn’t directly meet her gaze.
“Laura thought she may have been having contractions,” Ryan reluctantly admitted.
“She’s going into labor? It’s too early. I have to go see her.” She tried to pull out the IV, but Ryan preempted her by sitting on the bed beside her and clasping her hands.
“Honey, I know you love Laura, and I know you want to be there for her, but Jack’s with her right now, and I think they need some time alone. Plus, he already called her family, and they’re on their way here.”
“Laura won't want her family here
, they stress her, and she’ll already be over the top stressed after being held hostage and nearly killed,” Sofia protested.
“Jack thinks it’s important for her to know that her family is here for her, that they aren’t angry with her. You know she struggles with that,” Ryan reminded her.
Grudgingly, Sofia had to admit that Jack was probably right. “How’s Eliza?”
“The knife nicked an artery. She lost a lot of blood, and it’s still touch-and-go with her. They're rushing her into surgery. Xavier is with her, and her family should be here within a few hours,” Ryan explained.
She frowned at her husband. “I can't believe you let her do that. After everything Malachi did to her, you shouldn’t have put her through that and used her as a pawn.”
“She agreed,” he protested. “And it was the only way we could think of to get Laura out alive. Besides, Eliza didn’t want the threat of Malachi being free weighing down on her.”
“You still used her. She’s not a hostage negotiator or a cop. She has no experience or training, and you walked her into a hostage situation where she could have been killed. She could still die from her injuries.” Sofia studied her husband. She wasn't really mad about Eliza, she understood why they had used her even if she didn’t agree with it. And she had allowed herself to be used as bait in an attempt to catch the person murdering her family. What was really making her angry was that Ryan himself, and Jack, had nearly been killed in an explosion. Okay, so she was going with angry because it was easier to deal with than horribly scared.
Seemingly reading her mind, he said, “I'm okay, Sofia.” Ryan pressed his lips to her forehead.
“But you could have been killed.” Tears were burning the backs of her eyes.
“But I wasn't,” Ryan countered.
“But you could have been,” she repeated. “And if you hadn’t been there, then Jack would have been. Is he really okay?”
“Yes, he is,” Ryan replied firmly. “And right now, the only thing he’s thinking about are Laura and the baby.”
Sofia was about to try to convince Ryan to let her go and see Laura, even if it was just for a moment, to reassure herself that her sister-in-law was, in fact, all right, when her phone began to ring. Reaching for the bedside table to pick it up, she cast a concerned glance at Ryan. “Who would be calling me at three in the morning?”
He gave her a small smile. “Why don’t you answer it and find out.”
Making a face at Ryan, she pressed answer. “Hello?”
“I'm sorry.”
The voice sounded odd. It took her less than a second to realize it was a voice modifier. This had to be the stalker, which, if he was calling her, couldn’t be good news for Paige. Gesturing at her phone, she mouthed the word “stalker” to Ryan. Her husband bounded to his feet but then stopped. There wasn't much he could do. They could never set up a trace that quickly, and he no doubt wanted Paige in his line of sight immediately, but that was impossible because she was still at the scene of tonight’s near carnage.
“I'm sorry I didn’t stop her sooner,” the voice continued. “But I'm going to stop her tonight. I'm going to make sure she won't ever hurt you again.”
Sofia hadn’t had an opportunity to talk to the stalker since he had set his sights on Paige. Now she had to make the most of it. “Please don’t hurt Paige. She isn’t a threat to me. She’s happily married; she's not after Ryan.”
“She has hidden her true self from you,” the stalker sad sadly. “But not from me. I will protect you from her.”
Grabbing the phone from her hand, Ryan pressed speakerphone. “Paige and I are not having an affair,” he all but yelled at the stalker.
“I saw you with her tonight, outside the hospital, she was crying in your arms,” the stalker scoffed.
“Because she was upset. She and her husband are trying to adopt, but she just found out another adoption fell through. I was comforting her. She loves her husband, and she wants a family with him.” Ryan sounded frustrated, because he knew that the stalker wasn't governed by logic and wasn't going to be convinced that nothing was going on between him and his partner.
“Please,” Sofia begged, “please don’t hurt Paige.”
“You won't be able to get to her, anyway. We’re not leaving her alone. She’ll be protected.” Ryan’s frustration was melting away, leaving behind pure fear.
“Funny, she looks like she’s alone right now,” the stalker mocked. “She’s driving a blue SUV, and I don’t see any other cars about.”
“That’s Xavier’s car,” Ryan muttered. “She must be driving it back here from the cemetery. She was supposed to stay there, where she’d be surrounded by cops, until I came and got her.”
“Don’t worry, Sofia. After tonight, you won't have to worry about her. She’ll be dead. And you can tell your sister-in-law she won't have to worry either. That so-called friend of yours is sinking her claws into her husband, too.”
“Please don’t kill her. I know you want to protect me, but this isn’t necessary. Paige is my friend. She wouldn’t do anything to hurt me. Please just tell me who you are. You say you love me, that you care about me. If that’s true, then I should know who you are.”
“I wish I could,” the stalker murmured softly. “Goodbye, Sofia. After tonight, your marriage will be safe.”
Then he was gone. In a blind panic, she turned to Ryan. “He’s going to kill her. She’s all alone. He’s already gone after her twice tonight. He won't stop. Oh my gosh, Ryan, he’s not going to stop until she’s dead.”
If her stalker killed Paige, then Sofia knew she would never forgive herself.
* * * * *
3:58 A.M.
It was time.
And this time around, no one was going to get in his way.
He had already been interrupted twice tonight. Bruce had been positive that he had Paige when he’d driven his car at her. She hadn’t really registered what was about to happen until he was almost on her. If it wasn't for Ryan pushing her away at the last second, she’d be dead right now.
And then later after he had circled back to the hospital, he had followed her as she wandered the halls on her own. She had known he was there, not that he’d minded, it had added a little more fun to know that she knew he was watching her. Only then she had called one of her cop buddies to come, and Xavier Montague had turned up just before he had had a chance to grab her.
Nothing like that was going to happen this time around, though.
Paige was alone in the car.
Their cars were the only ones on the road.
It was storming. Rain was pounding down; the wind was howling—both made for difficult driving conditions.
Bruce wasn't concerned about having given a heads-up to Sofia about his intentions. Her cop husband and friends knew he was after Paige anyway. And what Ryan had said was almost definitely true; they were going to be sticking to Paige like glue. If he didn’t take her out tonight, he may not get another shot.
And that was unacceptable.
That woman could not be allowed to continue with her vile behavior.
He did wish that he could go to Sofia and tell her who he was.
She would be so surprised.
Everyone would.
No one knew how he knew Sofia.
No one knew their connection.
If he was honest, no one even knew his real identity.
He himself hadn’t even known who he really was for the majority of his life.
It had only been a few months before he started leaving gifts and notes for Sofia that he had learned the truth.
Although he wished he’d always known, he understood why his father had kept it a secret.
Upon his father’s death, he had received some paperwork from an attorney. Paperwork that his father had had his lawyer keep until his death. Then he had ordered it be sent to his son.
Bruce had gotten the shock of his life when he’d opened the envelope and read what was inside.
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br /> He had been raised by a single father and been told that his mother had died in a car accident.
In fact, she had not.
She had been alive until just a few years ago.
Only it wasn't safe for him to be a part of her life.
For his stepfather was a cruel and vicious man.
When Bruce had been just two years old, his stepfather had plotted to kill him. Somehow his mother had gotten wind of her husband’s plan and turned the tables on him.
As the plan to kill him was set into motion, his mother faked his death and spirited him away to live with his father. While she had remained with her evil husband for the sole purpose of protecting him and making sure no one ever knew he was still alive.
Bruce didn’t remember his mother and he’d had a good life with his father, even following in his footsteps to become a doctor.
Even after his father had died, and the truth of his parentage had been revealed, he hadn’t reached out to the family he had left. It had still been imperative to keep his identity a secret because his stepfather was alive, and thus still a threat to him.
But that wasn't the case any longer.
His stepfather was dead now.
His mother, too, but since he hadn’t really known her, he hadn’t really grieved her.
He only had one person left in the world.
And he was going to make protecting her his life’s goal.
No one was going to mess with his little sister on his watch.
Sofia Everette Xander was actually his half-sister. They shared the same mother, but had different fathers. His father was a doctor who had an affair with Gloria Everette. Sofia’s father was the man she had grown up thinking was actually her brother, Logan Everette IV.
Bruce had been christened Logan Everette III—supposedly the son of Logan Everette II and his wife, Gloria. His mother thought no one knew of her affair or that her husband wasn't the father of her child. Only somehow Logan had figured it out. And so, his mother had been forced to give him up.
With both his parents deceased and no other biological siblings, Sofia was all he had. He would do anything for her. Not excluding lie, cheat, steal, or kill.