Chapter 20
Chapter 20
Raven
C old spread along my cheek and I tried to open my eyes, only my eyelids felt so heavy. Where was I? Had I fallen asleep at work? No, that didn’t seem right. It didn’t feel like my bed, either. I couldn’t be sleeping at Sebastian’s.
Not anymore.
That familiar pain settled in, but this time it was mingled with a different one. An aching one, and I swallowed and tried to remember.
Noah had left, and I tried to close up. But then someone else had come in. But who? Why?
My face ached, as did my side. Something felt sticky underneath me, and when I finally was able to lift my eyelids just a little, the bright overhead lights nearly blinded me. I shut them again and let out a pained moan.
“Good. You’re awake.”
Then everything came back to me all at once.
Wyatt. Sweet and adorable Wyatt. The man who ran the bike shop next door—had hit me.
But that didn’t make any sense. Maybe I was just imagining it. Maybe I was just putting a familiar face on a monster. A nightmare.
But no, that also didn’t make any sense. How could this be happening?
My arms ached, and I realized I was lying on the ground, wherever I was, but my arms were still somehow above my head. My shoulder felt as if it had been yanked, and my cheek ached, and everything burned. I wanted to throw up, but I had to figure out exactly what was going on.
Eventually, I was able to open my eyes, and see what I had missed.
What we had all missed.
Wyatt sat on a wooden chair in front of me, his eyes filled with sadness, his hands clutched in front of him. He looked so normal. His dark blond curls were pulled back from his face, as if he had run his hands through his hair enough that he’d styled it that way. He had on an old T-shirt with his favorite band logo, jeans with a hole in the knee, and skater shoes. He looked like he always did. He always wore casual clothes, unless he was in his spandex bike attire.
He sold mountain bikes and racing bikes and bikes for children. For the everyday biker and those who wanted to try a triathlon.
And he had hit me.
I slowly sat up, my body aching as I tried to figure out where I was. Maybe a basement?
Why would I be in a basement?
The floor was cement, cold, and my chains, actual chains , were loose enough that I had been able to rest my head on the floor while unconscious. Now that I was sitting up, the chains were above my head, allowing my shoulders to relax slightly.
I turned, trying to see everything that was in here. But there were just a couple of chairs and some old boxes marked with clothes and other random miscellaneous attire. But there was something else, something I didn’t want to see. There was a woman. No, that couldn’t be right. But there she was, with her hands in the same position as mine. But she wasn’t moving, she had to be passed out.
I tried to see if her chest was moving, if she was breathing at all, but I couldn’t.
When I realized who it was, I screamed.
I screamed as everything hit me, and the reality of my situation came forward.
I was chained in a fucking basement with Wyatt’s ex-girlfriend. I didn’t know if she was dead, or if she was just unconscious. This had to be a nightmare. A goddamn nightmare.
“Stop it!” Wyatt called out. “Don’t make me hit you again. I really don’t want to hit you. I just needed to get you here and I didn’t know how else to do it. It’s not like I own a taser or anything.”
I stopped screaming and swallowed hard, staring at the man whom I’d thought was so nice, so kind. So normal.
But he was none of those things.
“Wyatt? What’s going on?”
“You’re fine. Cora’s fine. She’s just sleeping. She screamed at first, but then she stopped. But she’s just fine. I make sure she’s fed and watered and taken care of. I make sure she’s happy. Because she wasn’t happy before, but now she is. Because I love her. Just like I love you, Raven.”
I didn’t want to think about what he meant. I couldn’t. I didn’t want to think about what was going to happen next. I needed to get out of here. It didn’t make any sense.
“Why am I here? I don’t get it.”
“I was really sad when Sebastian got to you first. But then you said you had a past with him. And so I maybe understood. And I had Cora. She’s so nice. But she’s not you. But she’s trying to be. For me she’s trying to be.”
There was something wrong with how he was speaking. I didn’t know what had happened to make him this way, but I needed to find a way out of here. For both of us. Only we were chained, and I didn’t know if anyone would find me in time.
That cold thought slid up my spine, but I ignored it for now.
“The Montgomerys took care of me, you know.”
I looked back at Wyatt when he started talking again.
I tried not to throw up, my whole body shivering, and Wyatt sighed.
“But they’re not taking care of you now. And it’s okay. I’ll do it. The Montgomerys have cared for me, so I’ll do the same for you.” Wyatt slid a blanket over me, and I wanted to push him away, but I couldn’t get free. I was chained to the damn wall.
Wyatt must have seen me jostle the chains, and he sighed.
“Do you know how long it took me to find out how to put in a chain like this by looking on the internet? The internet has a lot of things, but most of the time it’s not really helpful. But I found this chat room that really understood. It was like going back in time, you know? With aliases and all that. It was cool. They helped me find the place for the best chains and how to keep you guys safe. And I will keep you safe. I’m not going to hurt you. Not the way you’re thinking,” he continued quickly. “I would never take what’s not mine. But I will make sure that you’re taken care of. The world’s hard out there, and I’m not going to let the world hurt you.”
There was no relief at his statement, only this twisted logic that made me want to curl back and try to get away from his touch. But he slid his hand over my cheek and smiled that innocent smile that told me that there was something really wrong with him.
And none of us had seen it.
“Cora didn’t understand. Not until the end. But you will.”
He pulled away and began to pace.
“I’m going to have to take you guys away, I think. I shouldn’t have taken you from the café. But everyone was gone, and I thought it would be safe. Sebastian doesn’t want you anymore, so he’s not going to be looking for you. But those other Montgomerys? Those I had to be careful of. They never really watched me, I don’t think. But my friends from the internet said I had to be careful. So I’m going to take you guys to another place. A place that they said would be safe to keep you. Just so you guys are safe. Don’t worry. I’ll keep you safe.”
He closed the door, leaving me in the basement, alone with Cora.
I pulled at my chains and I screamed and screamed.
But nobody answered.
Sebastian had to come. He would come for me. Or Noah, or someone else. Greer would find me. It might not be until the morning, before they realized that something was wrong at the café and I wasn’t there. But they would find me.
I had to have hope.
They would miss me.
And I wouldn’t be alone.
I couldn’t be alone.
* * *
I didn’t know how long I sat there, my arm’s aching, but maybe an hour later, Cora woke up, and looked at me with wide eyes and fear etched on her face.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
“None of us did. Are you okay?”
Cora gave a soft laugh that had no humor but nodded. “He hasn’t touched me in that way. I thought he would. I didn’t realize that he was like this. How did I miss it?”
Tears threatened but I shook them off. My heart ached for Cora, but we had to get free somehow. “We all did, don’t worry about it. We’re going to get out of here. They’re going to come for me.”
“I’ve been here for…I don’t even know how long. And no one’s come for me.”
I paused, trying to come to terms with that. “It’s still Thursday, I think. It hasn’t been that long.”
Cora let out a breath, closing her eyes for a moment. “So it’s been four days for me, which makes sense. I work from home. And my family calls on Saturdays usually. If I don’t talk to them for a couple of days, it’s fine. So maybe tomorrow they’ll notice that I’m gone, and no one’s heard from me.” Cora let out a soft laugh. “Isn’t that great? No one notices that I’m missing. You didn’t.”
I winced, my wrists aching right along with my heart. “He said you two broke up. And I didn’t have a way to contact you. I’m so sorry.”
“I left him. I thought he couldn’t love me. And there wasn’t a spark. Turns out there was a spark of a different kind. I’m sorry. Maybe I did something?”
“It wasn’t you. I promise it wasn’t you.”
“Okay. I hope so. I just want to go home.”
She started crying then, and I tried to reach out to comfort her, but we were chained far enough apart that I couldn’t reach her.
I didn’t know how we could get out. Maybe when he let us go upstairs to take a bath or something I could find a way. But even that made me want to shudder.
Suddenly there were shouts and screams and loud sounds that made me want to hide.
Cora met my gaze, and then the door slammed open. She screamed and I tried to curl into myself, but this wasn’t?—
“Ms. Monroe? We’ve got you, you’re safe.” The man in front of me looked to the right, cursed, and spoke into the mic on his chest. “We’ve got another one.”
Everything moved quickly after that.
They’d come for me. They’d known I was here.
They knew I was here.
* * *
In almost no time, we were out in front of the house, ambulance lights blinding me, making it hard for me to think.
“Let me through. She’s my family. Let me through.”
At the sound of Sebastian’s voice, I looked up and nearly burst into tears.
Noah and Ford were talking to the authorities. I didn’t know what was said, but it didn’t matter, because then Sebastian was there and touching my face.
“Oh my God, baby. Your beautiful face. Are you okay?”
“I’m okay. Just bruised. And I sort of cut my forehead.”
“We need to get you to the hospital, ma’am,” the paramedic said, and I nodded.
“Can I come with her?” Sebastian asked,
“It’s up to her.”
I had so many things to say. It didn’t feel real and yet I knew I needed to answer. “Um. Yes, please. I don’t know. Just come.” I couldn’t really focus, because none of this made sense.
But then Sebastian was in the ambulance with me, and we were going to get me checked out. Sebastian didn’t say anything on the ride over, just held my hand, and I tried to understand how he was there, how this had all happened.
I just wanted to go home, but we needed to make sure I didn’t have a concussion. Four stitches on my forehead, and no concussion later, I sat on the hospital bed, just staring at my hands.
“Did the cops leave?” Noah asked as he came through the doorway, looking between me and Sebastian.
Sebastian hadn’t said a word since he got in the ambulance, and I hadn’t spoken to him either. I wasn’t sure what to say. What I was supposed to say. The authorities had been in and out of the room getting my statement. There were so many unanswered questions, and I knew it could have been a whole lot worse. I suppressed a shudder. So much worse.
Sebastian nodded and Noah stared between us.
“No concussion?”
“No. Just a couple stitches. I can probably go home tonight. The cops are done for now. I still don’t really know what’s going on.”
Noah looked at me, and then at Sebastian. Again.
Noah growled. “Wyatt’s locked up. Cora’s going to be fine. At least that’s what she’s saying. My team’s with her now. Though it’s a little too late, isn’t it?”
There was something in his voice, something that worried me.
“It’s not your fucking fault,” Sebastian growled.
I nodded in agreement. “It’s not.”
Noah didn’t look like he believed us. If anything, his jaw tightened even more. “Wyatt didn’t throw any red flags. No one caught it. But he got you and Cora, and we missed it. We didn’t even notice that she wasn’t around anymore.”
“She broke up with him. Everyone missed it. It’s not your fault.” My mind was going a million different directions and I needed to speak with Sebastian. But Noah needed to be okay too.
“I’m head of security. I do the cyber checks. And I didn’t see a thing. So yeah. Let me just figure it the fuck out. But I’m glad you’re okay.” He looked pointedly at Sebastian. “And I’m glad you’re here, too. Talking .”
He turned on his heels, leaving us alone.
“I’m sorry,” Sebastian said, but I could only see his back.
I wanted to see his face, to figure out what was going on. I’d never felt so lost. “Why are you sorry? It wasn’t your fault.”
“I’m sorry for hurting you.” He turned to me then, his eyes wet.
I held out my hand. “Can you just hold me? I just really need to be held right now.”
I watched as his throat worked, and then he sat next to me, his arms around me as I leaned into him.
“It’s so stupid. I love you so much, Sebastian. And I loved you before all this happened. I should have said so. All I could think about when I was down there was that I wasn’t going to be able to tell you. That I wasn’t going to be able to see your face or Nora’s and I’m just so sorry.”
He kissed the top of my head. His whole body was shaking. But I was shaking right along with him.
“I was coming over to say I was an idiot. That I love you. And you were gone and I couldn’t find you. If the guys didn’t have surveillance like they did? I don’t know how we would’ve found you. And it was one of the scariest times of my life.”
“I’m sorry I left without trying to fix it. I’m not any good at this.”
We pulled apart so we could look at each other, and Sebastian cursed under his breath. “I told you that I didn’t know how to date. I didn’t know how to be in a relationship. You’re my first one as a full-fledged adult, and I’m not handling it very well. I used Nora as an excuse to push you away because I was so damn scared of losing you. And then the world tried to take you away anyway.”
I licked my lips and looked down at our clasped hands. “I was so afraid of not being good enough, of trying to take Marley’s place, that I walked away. I probably hurt Nora no matter what.”
I pressed my lips together and started to cry, but Sebastian wiped my tears away.
“Nora doesn’t know what happened. She just thinks you’re working a lot. She’s with my parents right now. I don’t know how to tell her any of this. Don’t know if I should. I’m also not sure if I should keep secrets from my kid. This parenting thing is hard. It’s been hard doing it alone, but it was nice having you around, because I love you, and I love the way that you are with her. I don’t know what’s going to happen next. But I also know that I almost lost you because some damn idiot thought he could protect you better than I could.”
“Please don’t compare yourself to Wyatt. There is something actually wrong with him.”
“Are you okay for real?”
I rubbed at my wrists, the bruises had started to pop up. “I’ll be okay. It’s just so weird. I think I’m still on an adrenaline high. I don’t want to fight like this with you anymore. I don’t want to feel like I’m not good enough.”
“That was never the case. I promise you. You are not Marley. But I don’t mean that in a bad way.”
I laughed. “I get you.”
“Do you? Because I want to make sure you do. I’m trying to figure out this whole relationship and being a dad thing. But I want to figure it out with you. The Sebastian that is here right now, the Sebastian in front of you, he loves you. I’m not that man from our past. And we can’t go back and wonder what-ifs and how to fix things. I learned that the hard way. So I want to go forward, look into the future, and to know that we’re going to do it together. I don’t know what that means exactly. But I know I want to take our time and figure it out. I want to be open and honest with my daughter. Because she loves you too. And that means that however we make this work, we’re a family. In the complicated way that we Montgomerys do it.”
I was openly crying now, holding him tight.
“Tonight was so scary. But I’m okay. And I would love to figure our future out together. Because I love that little girl too.”
“Good. Because I’m pretty sure she’s not letting you go.” He paused. “And neither am I.”
Then his lips were on mine, and I could barely hold back my tears.
The door opened again and the nurse came in to see why my heart rate was skyrocketing. She shook her head, and let the other Montgomerys in. Of course, because they were my family too. My parents followed them, having driven the hour to get here. And I knew that this was my future. What I had never allowed myself to believe could ever happen.
I pressed my hand to my neck, and my eyes widened. “My necklace. Where did my necklace go?”
“Everything you were wearing went with the authorities, but we’ll get it back for you. I promise,” Aria said from my side, where she held tight to my other hand.
“Thank you. Thank all you all for being here.”
My parents came forward and Sebastian moved away so they could hug me and then I was holding back tears as everyone took turns coming in the room so we didn’t annoy the nursing staff by overcrowding the room.
Ford was the last one to leave—other than Sebastian—and he stared at me.
“What is it, Ford?” I asked, my voice hoarse. I leaned into Sebastian as he held me like he never wanted to let me go.
“We’re sorry, you know. That we didn’t know about Wyatt. I never want you to feel that you’re unsafe at your place, so if you want, we can go over security again and make sure you feel safe there.”
My heart swelled and I smiled up at him, tired and feeling like I was having an out of body experience. “Your cameras figured out who took me and you were able to give that to the police so they could go to Wyatt’s house and find him. It worked.”
“You were still taken,” Sebastian growled, and Ford looked like he’d been kicked.
“Because a man I trusted walked into my unlocked place of business when I was alone. I’m usually never alone. And if I hadn’t had the door locked between the places, someone would have heard the commotion, like when I screamed when Noah startled me.”
Ford shook his head. “No. You don’t get to blame yourself for Wyatt’s actions. We’re going to take what happened here and learn from it. Our family is going to be safe.” He spoke as if he were a Montgomery, though I knew he was a Cage and had a large family of his own. But then again, the Montgomerys had a way of bringing people closer together.
“We’ll make sure we’re always safe. I’m never letting you and Nora out of my sight again.”
From the growl in Sebastian’s voice, I had a feeling I wasn’t going to change his mind. At least not tonight.
“Okay. I trust you. This is on Wyatt, though. Don’t let Noah blame himself either. We all thought we could trust Wyatt.”
From the dark look that crossed Ford’s eyes, I had a feeling he didn’t think Noah was going to let himself off from this. But there was nothing I could do about that right then.
Eventually, Sebastian and I were left alone. After a sweet phone call to Nora where we promised to see her soon, I cuddled into the man I loved and sighed.
“It’s going to take me a long time to get the image of you in that ambulance out of my mind.”
I knew the image of Marley in the hospital was also in his mind, as it was in mine, even though I hadn’t been there. But there was nothing I could do but hold him and never let go.
“Same here. But we’re together and going to be okay. I don’t think I can handle anything else.”
He kissed the top of my head and I closed my eyes, oddly content, even though I knew sleep wouldn’t come easy.
“We’re together. So yeah, we can handle this. Because I’ve got you. I love you, Raven.”
The words slid through me and I smiled. “I love you, too, Seb.”
I couldn’t help but wonder exactly how I’d come to be here. He wasn’t what I ever thought I would have. But he was everything I needed and now I just wanted to go home and start our life.