The Embrace Series: Romantic Suspense Box Set

by Dana Mason

  He looked up and the expression on her face melted his anger. “You can’t let him continue to dictate your life.” He pulled her closer. “What happened to that woman I met that insisted she wasn’t scared of anything.”

  “She was a liar.” Sarah bowed her head further into his chest. “Afraid of everything, but she didn’t want you to know that.”

  “We have everything now, each other, the baby, Jamie. We can’t let him interfere with what we have. You have to shake free of him, Sarah.” He pushed her back to see her face. “It’s just you and me. Don’t let him in.”

  “What if you’re wrong this time?” she said earnestly. “I’m pregnant—this could be my last chance to have a baby, your baby, Mark.”

  “You’re torturing yourself over this and that will do more harm to the baby than anything else right now.” He sighed as he looked into her frightened eyes. “Will it make you feel better if I call Brian and have Kevin checked out? Tell him about Charlie?”

  She held her breath for a moment then nodded her head. “Will Brian do it?”

  “Baby, Brian would walk on glass if you asked him to. He cares about you almost as much as I do.” He glanced over at the clock. “I’ll call him...I thought I would be enough to make you feel safe, but I can see now that I’m not enough.” He shook his head and closed his eyes. “I can’t stand to see that fearful expression in your eyes.”

  Sarah’s shaking hands moved to her chest and she sat up on her knees. “Did you see the look in Kevin’s eyes when you touched me? He would rather see me dead than see me with someone else.” She placed her hands on her belly. “If he comes after me while I’m alone, he’ll kill me. He’s strong—he hits too hard—I can’t fight him like I did Maylyn.”

  “It’s okay, baby, I’ll do whatever I have to—we’ll talk to Brian and see what we can do.” When she didn’t relax, he said, “Sarah, you’re my life now...you’re everything to me. Please stop trying to leave me. Stop and let me take care of this.”

  Sarah looked down at her stomach. “I could lose everything. Now that I have you, what I would do if I lost you? It would destroy me.”

  He drew her to him again. “I understand more than you know.”

  Mark forced her to eat breakfast by threatening to call the doctor. Dr. Davidson would put her on bed rest if she didn’t take care of herself. After eating, she felt more in control, but she constantly fought the nausea at the thought of having to tell Brian everything about her past.

  When they were seated in the family room with a cup of coffee, Brian said, “I’m glad you called, I have good news.”

  “We could use some good news right now,” Mark said.

  “Internal affairs and the DA concluded their investigation.”

  Mark straightened in his seat. “What’s the verdict?”

  “The DA will not press charges, reasoning Maylyn’s death was an act of self-defense.”

  “Oh thank God,” Sarah said, glad not to have that hanging over their heads any longer.

  “What about IA?” Mark asked.

  “We have a meeting set for Monday. But it’s fine. Martinez and I ran a clean investigation. I’m not worried,” Brian said. “Rupert Maylyn was not murdered.”

  Mark bowed his head and sighed in relief meeting Sarah’s eyes. If it wasn’t one thing it was another, and Sarah was as tired of drama as he.

  When they grew quiet, Brian’s gaze went from Mark’s to Sarah’s with concern. “Mark told me you guys had a problem that I can help with. What’s going on, Sarah?”

  Sarah stared at him, not sure what to say, and then her eyes dropped back to her coffee mug unable to force the words out.

  When she didn’t speak, Brian tried a different tactic. “Mark told me the good news. Congratulations.”

  “There’s more,” Mark said smiling.

  Sarah wasn’t sure which news Brian was talking about, and for the life of her, she didn’t understand where Mark found the strength to smile.

  “Sarah is pregnant.”

  Sarah looked back up to see Brian’s face break out in a big grin. “You guys are having a baby—that’s awesome.”

  He shook Mark’s hand before leaning in to kiss Sarah’s cheek. “Congratulations, Sarah. If anyone deserves this it’s you guys after what you’ve been through.”

  “Thanks,” Sarah said, enjoying his enthusiasm.

  “You don’t seem very happy about it.” He turned toward Mark. “I guess now I get the bad news.”

  “We’re ecstatic about the baby and about getting married...there’s something else though. We hope it’s not a big deal.” Mark glanced at Sarah. “We have to explain before Brian can help us. I don’t know how much you want me to tell him.”

  Sarah closed her eyes and thought about how she had spent her entire life constructing a wall to keep people out to protect herself. Now she was breaking down the wall for the same reason. Everything somehow felt backwards, like the sun shining on a rainy day. For some reason Mark was the rare exception to whom she let see through her wall, as if he were her rainbow that shown on those sunny-rainy days.

  She opened her eyes and looked into Brian’s, searching for the reassurance she needed from him.

  “Sarah, I’ll do whatever I can to help, but you have to tell me what’s going on.” After another moment, he said, “You can trust me—Mark and I have been friends since we were kids. We don’t always see eye-to-eye, but we’ve always had each other’s backs.”

  “It must be nice to have friends like that,” she said quietly.

  “You do have friends like that. I’m not here because Mark needs my help. I’m here because he said you needed me.”

  Sarah nodded. “Thank you, I’m sorry for being overdramatic about this.”

  “You don’t have anything to apologize for, stop doing that.” Mark looked back at Brian. “Sarah’s been pregnant before, eight years ago. The father of the baby nearly beat her to death when she was six months along and she lost the baby.”

  Brian’s face burned red and he closed his eyes for a second.

  “She had been with the guy for several years. He was really controlling, verbally abusive, and physically abusive to her throughout most of their relationship...” He paused and said to Sarah, “I’m telling him everything. I want to make sure he understands what this means to you.”

  “I know...tell him whatever is necessary for him to understand.”

  Mark told Brian the story of how she lost her baby, the beating, the rape, everything, including the way she left the hospital to get away from Kevin.

  Brian rubbed his face with his hands, and Sarah could see the same hard expression she’d seen on Mark’s face when she’d first told him the story.

  “She developed an infection and by the time she’d gotten proper medical care she was really sick. To make a long story short—the doctors told her she would never be able to get pregnant.”

  Brian relaxed a little. “Now she’s pregnant. That’s great.”

  “The problem is the ex-boyfriend. She’s been hiding from him for eight years. He threatened to kill her if she ever left him—he’s a mean son of a bitch.” Mark reached out for Sarah’s hand. “We ran into him last night at the Christmas ball.”

  “Aw fuck!” Brian said through clenched teeth. “And now he knows where you are.”

  She nodded and tried to smile at him. It was a pathetic attempt.

  “No wonder you’re terrified.”

  Sarah sat in a daze with a pounding headache while Mark explained the rest of the story. She forced herself to put on a brave face. She could see the wear of her emotions on Mark, and she didn’t want to pull him down into her dark pit.

  “Sarah, I need you to write down everything you know about Kevin, date of birth, last known address, nearest relatives. I’ll check him out. I can have a friend at the airport check see when he flies home from San Francisco. We can make sure he’s on that flight. Do you have a picture of him?”

  “No, I lef
t everything like that behind.”

  “His family’s business has a website and his picture is on it with a short bio. Let’s go to the office and I’ll bring it up for you.”

  Sarah’s head shot up.

  Mark stood to take Brian upstairs, but before walking away, he turned to her. “Are you going to be okay by yourself for a few minutes?”

  “Yeah, can I talk to you for a quick second?”

  “I’ll meet you up there, Brian.”

  Brian nodded and bounced up the stairs.

  “What’s up?”

  “How did you know about his family business and the website?”

  “Did you think I wouldn’t check him out myself?”

  Sarah leaned over and gave him a tight hug. “Thank you. I’m sorry for all this. I don’t mean to be so much trouble.”

  He held her, inhaling deeply and holding her for a moment. “Please, don’t apologize to me again. I love you. I’m sorry you’ve had to go through this. You should be able to have everything you want...you should be a mommy and a wife and you shouldn’t have to live with your life being threatened at every turn.” He pulled back and framed her face in his hands. “I’ve seen how strong and resilient you are. Give yourself time, baby, and stop feeling guilty.”

  He stood up and gave her a faint smile before leaving the room.

  Sarah took a deep breath and tried to focus on what he said. “I have to be resilient—stronger,” she told herself.

  She considered what kind of an example she’d be setting if she were a mommy. That pissed her off and made her hate Kevin even more. Mark was right—she needed to stop letting Kevin into her life, their life, and into her nightmares. It was one thing to let him affect her, but it was wholly unfair to let him affect Mark’s life, Jamie’s life and her baby’s life. She leaned over and reached for the notepad and pen to write down all the facts she had on Kevin Lewis.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  “Son of a bitch, Mark. That guy beat on her? She’s lucky to be alive.” Brian and Mark stared at the picture on the screen. “No fucking wonder she’s freaked out.”

  Mark moved to the other side of the desk and sat down on the folded futon, giving his desk chair to Brian. “I told you he’s a mean son of a bitch. The things he did to her...” Mark closed his eyes and tried to contain his anger. “She wakes up from vicious nightmares of him strangling her.”

  “Mark, man, she needs to take care of herself. If she’s not sleeping and the stress—”

  “What can I do? She’s so exhausted she can’t even think straight.” He ran his hand through his hair. “Things were supposed to get back to normal now.”

  “Okay, let’s summarize here. He doesn’t know her last name and he doesn’t know she lives in Santa Rosa. He thinks your name is Sonders—or something like that. She told him you’re a cop from Denver.”

  “Did the cop thing deter him at all?”

  “No, he didn’t seem to care.” Mark thought about the entire conversation. “Oh, and they talked about her step-dad—which is another issue entirely.” He thrust his hand out gesturing to the computer monitor. “She believes he murdered her stepfather. He was murdered a couple of years ago and they never caught the killer.”

  “Right.” Brian snapped his fingers as if trying to recall the conversation. “The gun dealer. I remember her mentioning him.”

  Mark went on to explain Sarah’s suspicions. When he finished, Brian focused on him with a calculating stare.

  “What do you think? When he mentioned the step-dad in conversation, did he act guilty?”

  “Brian, I was on my fourth or fifth shot of tequila. Honestly, I don’t know. He’s definitely jealous. He stared me down when I put my hands on her and his parting words were, ‘I’m sure we’ll see each other again soon’ or something to that effect. It scared her; she saw that as a threat.”

  “Maybe it was a threat, it is kinda creepy.” Brian looked at the monitor again and scratched his chin. “Okay, let me make a couple of calls.” He pulled out his cell phone and his little note pad.

  While Brian talked on the phone, he also copied the information from the website with Kevin’s bio. When he closed his phone, he went back to asking Mark questions.

  “What’s the step-dad’s name?”

  “I’m not sure, Charlie...something, I’ll ask Sarah—”

  “Charlie Wyman,” Sarah said coming up behind him.

  Mark turned to her. “You look like you feel better.”

  “I do.” She smiled as she handed Brian the piece of paper with all Kevin’s information. When the computer screen caught her eye, her smile faded.

  “Sit down. I’ll tell you what I have,” Brian said. “I called my friend at the airport. After some smooth talking, I got her to check on his flight. He leaves tomorrow, Southwest Airlines at 9:15 a.m. If I call her after 10:00 a.m. she’ll confirm whether or not he got on the flight. My theory is, if he’s coming after you here in Santa Rosa, he’ll do it between now and then, or he won’t be on that flight tomorrow. If he’s going to look for you in Colorado, he’ll change his flight. We’ll know for sure tomorrow.”

  “There is one more thing we haven’t considered.” Sarah looked at Brian, then Mark, and then back to Brian. “What if he saw the two of us in the paper...or on the news? The news stories have died down, but there is still a good chance he’s seen it.”

  “Either way, Sarah, if he’s coming after you, he won’t be on that plane tomorrow. We can’t do much until we know for sure.”

  She got the sense now that he was placating her and she felt a little silly. “Am I overreacting?”

  “Considering what you’ve been through in the last few months, considering this guy”—Brian pointed his pen at the computer screen—“and considering everything Mark’s told me, no, you’re not overreacting. Mark should put another one of his guys in this house until tomorrow afternoon. We can wait it out and see what happens. Until then, I’ll check out what’s going on in the investigation for Charlie Wyman. Can you give me more detail on that, maybe the date of his death, full name, things like that?”

  “Yeah, I’ll write down what I remember.” She reached over for the same piece of paper she’d handed him and jotted down the facts she had on Charlie.

  Sarah could hear the doubt in their voices. As if they couldn’t believe Kevin was capable of murder. Sarah felt the anger rise with the bile in her throat. What made them think they knew him better than she?

  “Kevin is into knives. He collects them, hunts with them, and uses them to scare people—he likes guns, too—but knives were always his favorite when he really wanted to terrorize someone.” Sarah didn’t look up at them, didn’t want to invite questions. “Someone broke into Charlie’s house and stabbed him to death. When Kevin talked about him last night, he pointedly said he met Charlie just before he died, which was an odd thing to say. Kevin always bragged about the game he’d hunted, and he had the same attitude last night when he talked about Charlie.”

  She was calm when she said it, but the memory made her want to throw up.

  When she looked up, Brian was watching her. “Did he ever threaten you with a knife, Sarah?”

  Brian came right out and asked without hesitation, and it surprised her. Mark seemed to have a way of getting information out of people without them realizing they were giving it. But not Brian, he threw it right out there. She looked at him for a long time not sure how to answer.

  “Yes,” she finally said. “Sometimes he used a gun. It was a game to him. He would wait until I cried and then he’d pull away, call me a baby and laugh at me.” She didn’t look away when she said it. She wanted to be what she needed to be—stronger, more resilient. She could hear Mark’s breathing increase as he lifted his hand to rub his face.

  “I don’t know,” she said to Brian’s unasked question.

  Brian’s eyebrows drew together. “You don’t know what?”

  “You wanted to ask me why I didn’t leave...I don’t k
now why.”

  “Sarah, I don’t need to ask, he’s a manipulator. Most abusive men are narcissistic. They do it for control. They want to lift themselves up by bringing you down. It’s a power game. Rapists don’t rape for the sex, they rape for power. He’s no different. I’m sure he told you how worthless you were on a daily basis, made you feel like you needed him, and couldn’t survive without him. That kind of abuse is no different than being chained to a bed and starved—same effect on people.”

  Mark and Sarah both stared at him. Sarah felt like she’d been punched in the stomach, but she didn’t get up. She would not allow herself to run away from Brian’s gaze.

  “It’s nice to know I’m a textbook pathetic, stupid woman.”

  “You’re not stupid, pathetic, or textbook. Actually, you’re the opposite of textbook. Most abused women end up dead or in prison for murder. You were strong enough to get away and get your life together. That’s not luck, Sarah. It’s pure, unadulterated strength of character and drive. You can continue to put yourself down, but your time and energy would be better spent concentrating on your new family.”

  Wow—he didn’t pull any punches. Sarah wasn’t sure how she liked that. Mark and Brian’s relationship made better sense now that she understood their complete opposite personalities. She finally looked over at Mark’s pale face and saw the nausea he felt.

  “Are you okay?”

  “I’ll be right back.” He stood up and rushed out of the room.

  “He drank a lot last night.”

  Brian chuckled. “Yeah, I heard.”

  “I’m going to go check on him.”

  She went into the bathroom and found him splashing water on his face. “Are you okay?”

  He looked at her and nodded as he dried his face on a towel. “You didn’t tell me about the knives.” Mark wiped the clamminess from his neck and rubbed his face again.

  “Maybe I shouldn’t have now, but I wanted you to understand why I think he may be the person who killed Charlie.”

  “You should tell me everything. I want to know so I can understand you better and help you deal with this.”