by Iris Morland
As the sun began to set, Kat could tell that Gavin was getting more anxious. She couldn’t blame him. The snow fell harder, and the temperature continued to drop. They yelled Emma's name over and over again, but all they heard in reply was the echo of other people yelling her name as well.
They were also getting closer to the river, which made Kat’s heart stop as she imagined that Emma had gotten caught in the current. Although the river hadn’t been high as of late, it still had nasty currents that could carry you downstream faster than you’d expect. Would Emma have gotten close enough to fall into the water?
When they were close enough to hear the rush of the river, Gavin stopped to drink some water, and he offered Kat the bottle as well. His face was grim, like he was expecting the worst at this point. She had nothing to say now, no words of encouragement. Only prayers, and a spark of hope, that everything would turn out all right.
“Before we keep going, I want to tell you something,” he said into the dark night, snowflakes melting on his face. “I didn’t just mess up with Emma—I messed everything up with you. I can’t tell you how sorry I am. I was an idiot. I hope you can forgive me.”
She waited for the three little words she wanted to hear the most, but they never came. This isn’t the time, she told herself. Despite her disappointment, she also wanted to throw her arms around Gavin. Another part of her wondered if he was just reacting to the emotion of the moment with his sudden apology. Would he have said anything if this hadn’t happened?
Kat pushed the negative thoughts away. They weren’t going to help them find Emma.
He stepped toward her. “Say something, please.”
“We need to find Emma.” It was the only thing she could think to say.
His expression shuttered. He nodded tightly and then kept walking.
Please, please, let us find Emma. I’ll never ask for anything ever again. Just find her and let me know that she’s safe and sound.
As they drew closer and closer to the river, Kat saw a flash of light off to her right. She stilled. Was that a flashlight from one of the search parties? When she saw it flashing multiple times, she had a feeling it wasn’t just one of the officers looking for Emma.
She ran toward the illumination, her heart in her throat. Maybe Emma had somehow found a way to signal them, or maybe someone else was signaling to let them know Emma was near. She heard Gavin call after her, but she was too intent on following the light to heed him.
Kat ran and ran, following the light. She sprinted so quickly that she soon could barely hear Gavin calling her own name. She called Emma’s name, and then she heard a shout. She ran faster and burst into a clearing some yards from the river.
As she shined her light out into the clearing, her breath caught in her throat when she saw Emma next to a man. As she focused on his figure, she realized it was Silas. He had his arm around Emma. Relief spread through her, but when she saw the fear on Emma’s face, she realized that he wasn’t there to help the girl.
He hadn’t gone to help search for Emma: he’d left to find her.
“Silas, let her go,” Kat said, her voice barely a whisper. “Let her go--please. You don’t want to do this. Can’t we talk this out?”
Silas didn’t say anything, but instead pulled Emma closer to his side. She whimpered. When Kat approached, Silas smiled, and it sent a shiver down her spine.
“Hi, Kat. I was hoping you’d show up here.” His once kind eyes flicked over her, and she couldn’t help but feel dirty from his gaze. “And look, I was right. I knew you’d do anything for that son of a bitch and his kid.”
She kept her flashlight trained on Silas’s face. “Why are you doing this?”
“You can’t really think why?” When Emma started to struggle against him, he swore something at her and clamped his arm tighter around her shoulders. Kat was about to run toward them, but he snarled, “Stay where you are.”
Her brain couldn’t come to grips with what she was seeing. Silas was her friend; he was a teacher. He couldn’t do something so heinous as threaten to hurt, or kill, a child.
“Silas,” said Kat slowly, like he was a wild animal. “This isn’t you. You’re my friend. You’re a good guy.”
“I’m well aware that I’m just your friend.”
Kat realized her misstep. Emma, for her part, was completely still. Kat met her gaze and said, “Don’t be afraid, Emma.”
“Don’t talk to her!” Silas pulled the girl up harder, making Emma cry out. “Say one more word, and she’s dead.”
Kat had been tip-toeing toward them, but she stopped in her tracks. She put her hands up. “We can talk about this. There’s no reason for violence. Do you want to lose everything? Your job, your reputation?” Kat tried to appeal to Silas’s logical side—if he even still had one.
He scoffed at her words. “This isn’t my fault. It’s yours. Can’t you see that? I tried to warn you in so many ways. But you wouldn’t listen, so I had to take drastic measures. If you’d just listened to me…” His expression turned anguished. “I tried my best. I really did.”
Strangely, Kat believed him. In his mind, he’d tried to warn her away from Gavin. The irony was now that the man she should’ve been warned against was not Gavin Danvers.
“I’m sorry I didn’t listen,” she lied. “I should have.” She inhaled deeply, the pain of her next words splitting her heart open. “We’re not together anymore, Gavin and I. It’s over. You were right all along. He wasn’t the man for me.”
Emma’s eyes widened, and Kat could see tears forming in her eyes. When she opened her mouth to speak, Kat gave a tiny shake of her head. Emma bit her lip.
“I told you. I told you he’d hurt you.” Silas looked crazed now. “You had another option, Kat. You had me.”
Right then, Gavin burst through the trees, his breath heaving from his chest. Upon seeing her father, Emma immediately started to struggle, like a cat trying to free itself. Silas raised a hand to strike her.
Kat didn’t think: she just ran toward them. She pushed Silas so hard that he lost hold of Emma, almost stumbling to the ground. Emma fell to her hands and knees in the dirt.
“Run, Emma!” Kat screamed as she grappled with Silas.
Gavin shouted something. Kat heard footsteps. And then she felt cold metal against her temple. When she realized what it was, it took all her strength not to scream herself hoarse.
“All those emails, comments,” whispered Silas, “but you still went to Gavin fucking Danvers’s arms.”
Kat couldn’t breathe. Suddenly, like a puzzle coming together, she realized that Silas wasn’t just a rejected would-be lover: he was also the same person who’d been threatening her for weeks.
“It was you,” she breathed. “It was you.”
“You finally figured it out. Good job.” Silas smiled, but there was no joy in it. “Took you long enough, though. I always thought you were smarter than that.”
“Don’t hurt her.” Kat looked up to see Gavin with his hands up. “Let her go. You don’t want to do this.” Gavin took a step forward.
“Don’t move,” Silas said harshly to Gavin. “Or I’ll blow her brains out from here to Sunday.”
Chapter Eighteen
Gavin heard the yells and ran as fast as his feet could carry him. How had Kat managed to get so far ahead of him? Fear coalesced in his gut that he’d lost her in the woods.
But he soon heard voices and went toward the sounds. Even then, it felt like an eternity before he arrived in the clearing where Kat had stopped. But the sight in front of him instantly arrested him: Silas Fraser holding Emma captive. Gavin was still far enough away that Silas hadn’t heard him approach.
Before Gavin could react to the tableau in front of him, Kat launched herself at Silas, screaming at Emma to run for it. A moment later, Gavin caught his daughter in his arms and breathed in her sweet scent.
But he didn’t have time to be relieved. Silas now had a gun to Kat’s temple. Gavin’s heart almost
burst out of his chest at the horrifying sight.
Turning to Emma, he said, “I need you to get out of here and get help. Can you do that?” He handed her his flashlight. “Keep the river on your left and it’ll take you straight to people looking for you.”
“But what about you?”
“I’ll be okay. I love you, baby.” He hugged her close and wrapped her fingers around the flashlight. “Now run.”
Emma hesitated, but only for a second. She took off, running like the wind. He only hoped she’d find help in time.
“Let her go,” Gavin called, announcing his presence.
Silas’s head shot up, and he flashed his own light in Gavin’s direction. “Oh good. Everyone’s here.”
“Don’t do this.” Gavin’s voice was a croak, raspy with fear.
Silas scoffed. “I’m tired of everyone doing what you want. I tried my best to get Kat to come to me for help, but she went to you, didn’t she? Stupid bitch.”
He yanked Kat closer, and Gavin saw her eyes widen. But she didn’t cry out. She stood still as a statue, barely trembling, and he only loved her more for it. When had he ever deserved a woman as brave and caring as Kat?
“Take me instead,” Gavin insisted. “If you want to hurt someone, hurt me.”
“No!” Kat lurched toward him, but Silas only pressed the gun harder to her temple. “Don’t do this, Gavin.”
Silas rolled his eyes. “As touching as this is, I’m not here for you. I’m here for her. I always have been. Tracking you online, too.”
Kat looked at Silas with horror, and Gavin realized with a jolt that Silas was the one who’d been terrorizing her for these past weeks.
“Ah, I see you know what I’m talking about. Yes, I was the one sending all of those emails and comments. When I realized Kat was obsessed with you, I thought I could get her to come to me in her terror. I could be a source of comfort. But I didn’t reckon she’d be stupid enough to go to you.”
Silas turned off the safety on the gun, his finger on the trigger. “So you see, if you take one more step toward us, I’ll shoot her. You don’t want that, do you?”
“What do you want?” said Gavin.
Silas sneered at Gavin. “I want this woman to apologize for everything she’s done. She led me on. She acted like she wanted me but she only wanted you. Some asshole with a crazy ex-wife and an equally crazy kid. What could you give her that I couldn’t? I want her on her knees, begging for her life.”
He took Kat by the arm and wrenched her down onto the ground, the gun now pointed at her forehead. “Beg, you stupid bitch. Beg for your life, and maybe I’ll grant you some measure of mercy.”
Kat panted, staring down the barrel of Silas’s gun. Gavin watched and tried to find an opening, but Silas wasn’t going to let Kat go without a fight. All three knew it.
“Is this about the game?” Gavin took one small step forward as he spoke. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “You’re mad about a computer game?”
Silas rolled his eyes. “The game was just a useful tool. I thought when she started getting harassed, she’d come to me for help.” He pressed the gun harder into Kat’s forehead. “Why did you have to go to him?”
Gavin watched in horror as Silas was about to press the trigger. “If you love her at all, don’t do this. Kill me. I’m the one who ruined everything.”
Kat trembled even harder, but she didn’t say anything.
Silas seemed to consider, then he shrugged. “True, you are just as much to blame,” he reasoned. “So now I’m going to kill her first, and then I’m going to kill you.”
Gavin caught Kat’s gaze. Her chin was trembling, and tears ran down her cheeks. Gavin felt like his knees were about to collapse under him. The thought of losing Kat was simply unbearable. And to a man like this? A man who’d acted like he was her friend while he’d been threatening her and making her too scared to stay in her own home?
Gavin would go to his grave before he let Silas hurt the woman he loved.
“Baby,” he said to Kat, taking in her beautiful face. “I’m sorry for everything. I love you. I should’ve told you sooner, but I’ll do everything I can to make it up to you.”
Silas cried out. “Shut up! Shut the fuck up! You don’t get to talk to her like that!”
“Silas, you know you don’t want to do this.” Tears dripped down Kat’s face. “If you ever cared about me, you’ll let me go. I won’t even press charges. You can just go.”
Silas’s hand holding the gun began to tremble. “I don’t believe you.”
“When have I ever given you a reason not to trust me?”
He let out a sharp laugh. “The day you started fucking this man!” In a fit of rage, he pistol-whipped Kat, and she collapsed to the ground.
Gavin let out a roar. He rushed at Silas, taking him straight to the ground with a grunt. Gavin heard distant shouting, but it barely registered. All his focus was on the gun in Silas’s hands.
“Run!” he yelled to Kat. “Go find Emma and get help!”
He didn’t wait for Kat to respond. He couldn’t let Silas use that gun, no matter what happened. The two men grappled for the weapon as they rolled on the ground, stuck in a life and death struggle. A rock dug into Gavin’s knee, causing a sharp pain to run up his leg. Silas was now on his back. Gavin got in two punches to the man’s face and then hit him so hard on his wrist that Silas finally dropped the gun. Before Gavin could grab it, though, Silas somehow managed to kick Gavin in the stomach so hard that the wind was knocked out of him.
Gavin bent over in half, gasping for breath. Silas, though, wasn’t done yet, and he rose and kicked Gavin in the ribs. Gavin curled in on himself just as he heard a man shout, “Drop your weapons!”
But the only thing on Gavin’s mind was survival. He rolled away from Silas’s kicks and got to his feet, panting. Silas’s face was bloodied, and just as Gavin was about to take him down again, the man ran toward the gun that he’d dropped. Gavin sprinted after him. He crashed into Silas from the side right as Silas lifted up the gun, and everything seemed to slow down when the sound of the gun firing went off through the clearing.
A woman screamed. Time seemed to stop. Gavin found himself lying on the ground, warmth spreading next to him. He looked to his side, and Silas lay there, gasping for breath.
“Gavin, Gavin!” Kat was kneeling beside him. “Can you hear me? Gavin!”
He had the strangest urge to close his eyes, but he couldn’t look away from Kat. He reached up to touch her face; he felt wetness on her cheeks. “I love you, Kat,” he breathed.
“I know. I’ve always known. You stupid, moronic, brave idiot.” She was sobbing now.
Her hands were also searching his body, and he didn’t understand why she was doing this now and here of all places. He cried out when she pressed hard against his side. His eyelids fluttered closed.
He’d been shot. He’d been shot. His mind was trying to accept this fact, but it seemed too crazy. Even as Kat pressed harder against the wound, the pain started to fade.
Kat gasped out, “If you die on me, Gavin Danvers, I will find your ghost and haunt you for eternity. Do you hear me?” Kat’s voice was ragged, and he wanted to tell her there was no way he was leaving her, but his voice didn’t seem to work anymore.
After that, more people arrived, and lights flashed, and there were shouts, and his eyelids became so heavy that he couldn’t keep them open anymore. Darkness embraced him.
Chapter Nineteen
When Gavin awoke, the first thing he noticed was the astringent scent of his surroundings. He didn’t understand why the woods would smell like that, but when he opened his eyes, he slowly realized he was no longer in the woods. He was in the hospital. The hospital? Why was he in the hospital?
“You’re awake.” Kat touched his arm, her eyes shining as she looked down at him. “Jesus Christ, Gavin.”
He saw that she was crying, and he reached up to wipe the tears away. “What happened?” His
voice was croaky.
“You were shot, but the bullet just grazed you. You bled quite a bit, though.” She sniffled. “Scared me half to death, too.”
In a rush, it all came back to him: the woods, Kat, Silas, Emma. Emma. He lurched upward, but groaned as his wound smarted. “Emma? Where is she? Is she all right?”
Kat grabbed his hands to still him. “She’s okay. She found help, just like you told her to. She was so brave. They arrested Silas. It’s over.”
“How did he get Emma? How did this even happen?”
Kat sighed. “Apparently Silas was planning to hurt me, but when he stumbled upon Emma hiding in the supply closet, he decided she’d be bait. He wanted to use her to get to me, and to you. He left me a note telling me to come alone to the woods, but I didn’t see it until after it was all over.” She gave a wry, sad smile. “It wasn’t a good plan, and for that, I’m grateful.”
“Where’s Emma?” He needed to see his daughter, to make sure she really was okay. His eyes stung, remembering how Silas had kept her captive. He remembered the gun Silas had pointed at Kat, and the fear flooded through him, making him tremble.
“She just went to get something to eat. Everyone’s here—your entire family. They’re looking after her. Teagan is trying to get here, too.”
Gavin breathed out a sigh of relief, then winced. Apparently, painkillers didn’t get rid of all of the pain.
“What happened after I was shot?” he asked, taking Kat’s hand.
Her lower lip trembled. “You don’t remember? The EMTs and police had to carry you out of the woods on a stretcher.”
“No, I don’t remember anything.” He rubbed his temples. “I remember fighting with Silas, I remember telling Emma to run…”
“They raced you into the hospital to stabilize you, but then they had to medflight you to Columbia for surgery.”
Gavin finally took in his surroundings, realizing that this hospital room was too fancy to be the local one. “How long have I been asleep?”