Paralyzing fright took hold of me.
“You won’t do a damned thing.”
The knife dug deeper into my skin with each venom-laced word Heidi spoke.
If she didn’t hush there was only way this could end.
That way? With one or both of us dead.
Trailing his lips across the top of my shoulder, Carson whispered, “What’s it going to be, Princess? Are you going to come with me willingly? Or do I need to gut your mouthy little sister first to prove that I’m not kidding.”
My skin crawled each time his lips touched me.
“Answer me,” he demanded, nicking me with the blade.
Any calm I had flew right out the window when I felt warm blood trickle down my belly. The psycho had cut right through the fabric of my cotton dress, slicing my flesh. Desperate and knowing there was only one way out of this, I looked my beautiful baby sister in the eyes and whispered, “I’ll go.”
I felt rather than saw Carson smile. “Such a smart girl.”
Each word he spoke slid into my gut, making vomit rise into throat.
I was certain I’d throw up any minute.
Removing the arm he still had clamped around my chest, he wrapped a hand around my upper arm, squeezing down on the small muscle. I cringed in response and he loosened his grip the smallest bit. “Sorry, sweetheart. I’ll do better next time,” he said, soothingly.
Without another word, he dragged me toward a white truck; one which I’d never seen before.
“Carissa, no—” Heidi started.
Turning my head, I looked at her over my shoulder. “No, Heidi. Stay.”
If she chased after us—something she was undoubtedly about to do—Carson would kill her, and that wasn’t an option. Heidi may have had a can of pepper spray, but Carson had a knife and enough delusions to fill the Grand Canyon.
Playing into those delusions was the only way to keep us safe.
If I could keep him calm long enough for her to get away, Heidi could get help.
Vision blurred from the tears filling my eyes, I kept my gaze focused on her and mouthed two words. Two words which I knew in the deepest recesses of my heart would lead to my rescue.
Come hell or high water.
Those words? Find Kyle.
Forty
Kyle
“This is bullshit.”
If I’d heard that line once from Ty, I’d heard it a million times.
After dipping the sponge I held in my hand into a bucket of sudsy water, I pulled it back out and slapped it against the side of the ladder truck, moving my hand in circular motions, washing away the ash and dirt that coated the red paint.
“What’s the problem now, drama queen?” I asked Ty, who stood beside me, holding his own sponge in his hand.
Turning his head in my direction, he glared at me. “It’s complete bullshit that Hendrix’s dumbass got us put on boot duty by Cap, and yet he’s not even here!”
“Maddie is sick, dipshit. Of course, he’s not here.”
He lifted his chin in the air. “What’s wrong with Maddie?”
“Stomach is messed up.” I dropped the sponge back into the bucket. “Food poisoning or something. Man, I don’t know.”
Giving him my back, I pulled my cell out of my pocket and glanced at the screen.
My jaw ticked when I didn’t see a message or missed call from my girl.
That wasn’t like her.
“Yo,” I said, turning to face Ty again. “You heard from Heidi today?”
He shook his. “No,” he growled. “She won’t answer my texts.”
“What did you do?”
“I didn’t do shit.” His eyes narrowed. “What did you do since Carissa hasn’t called you?”
“Nothing, I—”
I snapped my mouth shut when a car, one that looked identical to Carissa’s came roaring down the road, and made a sharp right into the station, barreling up the paved entrance toward Ty and I.
They’re going to crash…
“Ty!” I hollered, lunging for the idiot. “Look out!”
The moment my hands landed on his chest shoving him backward, I realized that the car was in fact Carissa’s, but the person driving wasn’t my girl.
“Heidi! I screamed. “Slow the fuck down!”
Window rolled down, she slammed on the brakes, and came to a sliding stop.
The smell of burnt rubber filled the air; grey smoke followed.
Ty was next to the car before I could blink.
Wearing an expression of pure panic he ripped open door, jerking it so hard the hinges screamed in protest and the side panel bowed, popping under the force.
“Heidi, what the—”
When a sobbing Heidi jumped out, her hands clenched into tight fists, the hair on the back of my neck stood up. In an instant, I knew something was wrong, and without having to ask, I knew Carissa was involved.
Throwing an elbow into Ty’s side to make him move out of her way, she maneuvered around him and stumbled her way toward me, losing her balance.
I made a grab for her just as she started to fall.
“Kyle!” she screamed, the sound of my name on her lips animalistic and full of fear.
I caught her before she hit the pavement and lifted her back to her feet. “Heidi, talk to me.” Laced with fear, my voice sounded foreign to my own ears. When two seconds passed without her saying a word, I dug my fingers into her sides, gripping her tight. “Goddammit, Heidi, talk!”
Her mouth opened and her lips moved, but the words wouldn’t come.
Frustrated, she ripped out of my hold and spun to face Ty.
Quickly raising her hands, she signed a string of words to him, rapid fire, one after the other.
Ty’s brows furrowed, and a look of concentration crossed his face as he tried to decipher what she was saying. New to ASL, Ty was still learning, and I hoped—no, I fucking prayed—that he could understand what she was trying to say.
“Goddammit, Ty!” I roared, my non-existent patience gone. “What is she trying to tell us?”
As if possessed by the devil himself, Ty’s face transformed in the space of a second. Features hardening, his eyes lost their shine, darkening right before me. The panicked expression he’d worn moments before faded away and rage slid into his place.
He looked passed Heidi; his eyes met mine.
“Tell me!” I shouted.
“It’s Carissa,” he said. “She’s been taken.”
My heart stopped.
* * *
Twenty Minutes Later
I couldn’t breathe.
Could not fucking breathe!
Standing in front of the station, my fingers intertwined behind my head, I stared at Anthony, who stood across from me, his detective badge hanging from a black cord around his neck. Two-way radio in hand, he yelled orders at the uniformed officers who’d pulled their squad cars into the station, deploying them in different directions.
“I want every road blocked,” he barked to a plainclothes detective ten feet away. “Set up check points on every highway leading out of the county, and shut down all access to the interstate. Not a single fucking car leaves this county unless it’s been searched.”
The second, much older, detective nodded. “On it, Moretti.”
He looked over at me, his aged blue eyes simmering with anger. “We’ll find her, Kyle.” Anguish flitted across his stern face. “The bad guy won’t win—” he paused “—not this time.”
I said nothing as he turned and walked off.
The goddamn anger boiling in my veins made it impossible to breathe, much less speak. Teetering on the edge of losing what remained of my mind, I was dangerously close to snapping.
Anthony looked back and glanced at me briefly before turning his attention to a terrified Heidi.
Jaw clenched tight, he exhaled. “You’ve done good, Heidi, but I need to know if there’s anything else you can tell me about your sisters abduction. Doesn’t matter how sma
ll or irrelevant you think it may be, I need to know everything.”
Something flashed in Heidi’s eyes; my back snapped straight.
She’s hiding something…
“Heidi,” I growled. “Tell him.”
Dropping her head back, she looked up at the night sky as tears poured from her eyes.
It was enough to make me snap. “Heidi!” I yelled, completely done the silence. “Goddammit, if you know something tell him!” I hated yelling at her, and looking back now, it kills me that I jumped her ass when she was scared and hurt, but I cared more about getting Carissa back than her feelings. “Now!”
Ty stepped forward, ready to intervene, but he didn’t say anything. He may have been pissed at me for yelling at Heidi, but he’d been with me when Lily was taken. More than most, he understood what was at stake if we couldn’t find Carissa before it was too late.
Righting her head, Heidi nodded.
Turning to face me, she wrapped her arms around her belly, almost as if she knew the words she spoke next would tear her apart.
She opened her mouth to speak, but snapped it shut, hesitating to speak the words.
It made my blood boil hotter.
“Heidi—” I started.
“Oh God,” she cried, interrupting me. Grabbing fistfuls of her hair, she tugged on the strands, screwing her eyes shut. Heart break and despair rippled over her face; a gut-wrenching sob came next. “Kyle, she’s… s-she’s….”
“Spit it out, Bug!”
Dropping her hands, she opened her eyes. Our gazes met and she placed a hand on her lower belly, drawing my attention to the area. “She’s pregnant…. Carissa is pregnant.”
Pregnant…
The single word bounced around my brain, echoing off my skull.
Despite the situation, pride coursed through my veins.
My woman was pregnant.
With my baby.
Mine.
Any control I still possessed disappeared in a flash. Paternal instinct swept through me, blocking out everything except for the need to find and protect Carissa and our unborn child.
Shoulders squared, I ripped my keys from my pocket and looked at Anthony. “I am fucking done waiting. That motherfucker has my woman and child. I will not stand here with my thumb up my ass while I wait for someone else to save Carissa and our baby. That is my job.” Clenching my hand into a tight ball, I hit my chest. “Mine.”
I expected Anthony to tell me to calm down and to stay put.
He didn’t.
Instead, he nodded, tossing me the two-way radio he still held in his hand. I caught it and clutched it tight. “Channel 4. Keep the line open. If we get a lead, you’ll hear it.”
I started to move, but stopped when Ty placed his hands on each side of Heidi’s face and tilted her head back. Eyes locked, he pressed a kiss to her cheek. “We’ll find her, Angel. I swear it.”
Pressure built inside me as I watched them, tearing me apart from the inside out. The way Ty looked at Heidi was the exact way I looked at Carissa. Knowing how wrong this situation could go, seeing them like that was unbearable.
Carissa could die.
My child may never be born.
I only had two words for both of those thoughts: Fuck that.
Radio and keys gripped tight, I headed for my truck, fierce determination spreading through my limbs. I’d only made it ten feet when Ty fell into step beside me—no surprise there—his booted feet slapping against the asphalt in time with mine. “Where are we headed first?”
Memories rose.
I pushed them back.
“Unless he’s taking her somewhere local, the son of a bitch will try to find the fastest way out of the area while staying under the radar. To do that, he’ll need to take a couple of back roads before hitting Highway 3 since it’s the most desolate.”
“You sure?”
I nodded. “It’s what Edgar Louis did.”
For the first time since Carissa had been abducted, I allowed thoughts of my sister to rush forward. Seventeen years had passed since she was ripped from me by an obsessive psycho hell bent on claiming things that didn’t belong to him.
Now, all these years later, it was happening all over again.
Only this time, it wasn’t my sister that had been taken.
This time, it was the love of my life and our child.
I would be damned if I let the past repeat itself.
Forty-One
Carissa
I was going to be sick.
My stomach churned as I stared out the windshield of Carson’s truck, my eyes focused on the full moon and twinkling stars. Less than an hour had passed since I walked away, leaving Heidi standing alone in front of the mall, but it felt like much longer.
Days.
Years.
Centuries.
With each second that passed, my panic along with the need to flee and escape, strummed through my body, heightening my senses. Aware of each breath that Carson took and every small movement he made, I was biding my time, looking for a way out.
As crazy as it sounds, although he’d threatened me with a knife and nicked my belly with the blade, I didn’t think he intended to kill me.
That’s not how people like him worked.
Though I didn’t know why, he was infatuated with me, completely obsessed. To him, I was the prize he’d fought for, and was proud to have. As long as I didn’t defy him and shatter whatever self-delusion he’d wrapped himself in, I was safe from death.
But that didn’t mean I was safe from all harm.
Did I believe Carson would harm me if I upset him? Yes.
Did I believe he would force himself on me? Double yes.
Would I stand by and let either of those things happen? Not a chance in Hades.
I wasn’t as strong as Shelby or Clara, but I had a back bone made of steel and my parents blood running through my veins. I may not have ever thrown a punch in my life, but when backed into a corner you can bet your bottom dollar I’d come out swinging.
Every single dang time.
Knowing full well that now was the time to act, I took a deep breath, forcing myself to remain calm. Leaning my head back against the seat, I turned my head to face Carson. The moment he felt my gaze on his face, he glanced over, meeting my eyes.
The smile that spread over his face made me sick. “Hey, sweetheart,” he said, his voice whisper-quiet and what I guessed was supposed to be sweet; maybe even seductive. “What are you thinking about?”
The best way to escape, I mentally replied.
“How long have you been watching me?” When his smile dropped the slightest bit, I rushed to continue. “I never saw you, but I felt you.” That was the truth. There was no doubt in my mind that all those times I’d felt someone tracking my every move, it wasn’t just my imagination.
Instead, it had been him.
The sicko.
Reaching over, he took my hand in his, lacing our fingers together.
I bit my tongue, fighting the knee-jerk reaction to rip it back.
“A while,” he replied.
That answer didn’t help me.
“How come you never approached me? I don’t bite ya know,” I said, trying my hardest to add a heaping dose of faux flirtation to my words.
His hand squeezed mine. “I thought I had time.”
“Time for what?”
“To get things ready.”
My stomach dropped, but I didn’t show it. Smile stitched in place, I continued, “You’ve been getting stuff ready for me?”
His eyes met mine again before focusing on the road before us once more. “No.” He shook his head, his thumb massaging my knuckles. “I’ve been getting stuff ready for us.”
Crossing one thigh over the other, I hummed. “Yeah? Like what?”
Another squeeze of his hand. “You’ll see when we get there.”
I pushed my lips out in an over the top pout. “How long is that going to take?”
&nbs
p; “Patience, sweetheart,” he replied, chuckling. “It’s a virtue.”
My fingers itched with the need to claw his eyeballs out.
Carson’s smile vanished; concentration spread across his face. “Everything was perfect, but now I have to add a few more things.” His tone shifted, and the anxiety nipping at my nerves went into overdrive. “Things the baby will need.”
My blood ran cold.
Carson knew it too.
“Don’t worry, Princess,” he said, ready to reassure me. “I’m not mad at you. I know it wasn’t your fault.”
“You do?” My voice cracked, revealing my nerves.
He nodded. “I know all about what Tuck did to you. How he demeaned you, made you do things you didn’t want.” His hand tightened on the steering wheel. “I watched him hurt you, watched you scream in pain.”
The meaning of his words slammed into me like a freight train.
Vomit rose into my esophagus.
He’d been watching while Kyle made love to me. That much was obvious, but what wasn’t so obvious was how many times he’d done it. One, two, twenty? And sweet baby Jesus, he thought Kyle was hurting me? I couldn’t… well, I couldn’t believe the level of insanity I was dealing with.
Kyle had never, not once, demeaned me.
Nor had he made me do something I didn’t want.
As for hurting me—I screamed every time Kyle was between my thighs, playing my body like an instrument, but it wasn’t because I was in pain.
It was quite the opposite in fact.
My Hulk had never once made me feel anything less than beautiful, but Carson made me feel downright filthy; and not in a good way either.
Beads of sweat broke out along my brow and I realized I had to get away.
Like, right then.
I couldn’t continue to play this game in the hopes that he would let his guard down long enough for me to escape. I was taking a risk, but the time had come. I could not sit beside a man that had accused the father of my child of being nothing more than a rapist.
At that moment, it had become clear that the porch light in Carson’s head may have been on, but you can bet nobody was home. He was insane!
Every Time We Touch: A Redeeming Love Novel (Book 5) Page 32