Chapter 26
Tessa
With my Bible in hand, I sit curled up on Garrison’s couch, a blanket on my lap, a hot cup of chamomile on the table in front of me. I can hear the shower going, and in this brief moment of silence, I can almost pretend Zane will be coming through the front door any minute.
The two minutes I had to talk to him earlier weren’t nearly long enough. But he said that, as long as tonight went well, they could potentially be on their way back first thing in the morning. I smile.
I can’t wait.
Shifting my attention back to the Bible, I continue reading through the book of Esther. I remember being so drawn to it when I was a teenager. The strength she must have had to prevail despite everything stacked against her has always been inspiring to me.
“Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?” That singular verse from Esther 4 runs over and over in my mind.
It’s hard for me to believe I have any special purpose.
Any genuine reason for being born. Perhaps that’s why I struggled so much to keep my faith since leaving Stormwatch Landing.
I never felt worthy enough for anything.
Not for Zane.
Not for happiness.
And certainly not to be a mother, though secretly it’s all I wanted. To show my child the love I never had.
Something moves in the shadow of the hall, so I glance over, expecting to see Garrison coming toward me. That expectation dies quickly, though, and my stomach plummets.
The teacup clatters out of my hand and hits the ground with a thud as the liquid saturates the fluffy rug beneath Garrison’s coffee table. I set my Bible to the side and slowly get to my feet as I stare down the masked intruder coming toward me.
I don’t scream, though. Not yet. Because if I can keep his focus long enough for him to pass the bathroom, then Garrison’s arrival will be a surprise.
You’ve got this, Tessa.
Swallowing hard, I take a step back—and bump into a large frame.
“Garr—” I start to scream, but a large hand comes around to cover my mouth. As my attacker lifts me, I plant both feet on the arm of the couch and shove back, flinging him—and me—into the wall.
The bathroom door opens, and Garrison rushes out wearing only a pair of sweats, his hair still wet from the shower. He races forward and tackles the guy in the hallway, taking him to the ground. A sickening crack fills the apartment, and the first guy falls still on the floor.
My attacker snakes a meaty hand over my mouth, making it nearly impossible to breathe. Lungs burning, I continue to fight against his hold, but it’s no use.
“Keep coming, and I’ll pull the trigger,” the man snarls as cool steel is pressed to my chin.
I swallow hard and fall still. Come on, Garrison.
But he hesitates—and that hesitation is just long enough that a third man I hadn’t seen slips out from Garrison’s slightly open bedroom door.
I try to scream. Try to warn him.
But with tears in my eyes, I watch in absolute horror when the blade of a knife is driven into Garrison’s side. He cries out, then rips himself free of the blade before spinning and landing a kick on his attacker.
Blood pours from the nasty wound in his side, and he stumbles, falling forward onto his knees. I squirm, trying to get to him so I can help. Garrison’s expression looks so defeated, so broken that it crushes me.
No. Please don’t die. God, please!
My attacker laughs from behind me. I slam my foot down onto his boot, but that only makes him laugh harder. “Steel toe, sweetheart,” he mutters into my ear.
Bile burns in my gut, and I fight as hard as I can against his hold, twisting and turning, until something hard slams into the back of my head and I fall forward onto the tea-stained carpet. Vision blurry, I can barely focus on anything. But I can see Garrison.
Still on his knees, a hand pressed to the wound in his side, he tries to crawl to me. The man who stabbed him grips a handful of his hair and exposes his throat.
“No!” I scream. “No!”
He lowers the blade to Garrison’s neck.
“Leave him,” the man behind me says right as my vision begins to fade. “He’ll be dead soon anyway. Just like the rest of them. We need to get going before someone shows up and we have another body to deal with.”
The rest of them.
No, God. Please, no.
My throat burns, and I fight for consciousness. Fingers gripping the carpet, I try to crawl my way toward Garrison as the man who’d stabbed him releases his hair and shoves him to the carpet. If I can get the blood stopped, then maybe he’ll stand a chance.
A hand closes around the back of my neck, and I’m ripped up from the ground and thrown over a shoulder. Regaining some of my strength, I thrash in his hold.
“Let me go! Help! Garrison!”
“Shut her up,” the man who’d stabbed Garrison orders. “Now.”
“We need her alive,” the man carrying me orders as he rips open the front door.
“But not conscious,” the other man says, then raises his fist and slams it into my jaw. My vision wavers, darkness closing in on my mind like smoke.
Zane.
Weston.
Ryker.
Sawyer.
Garrison.
Are they all dead because of me?
“Tessa, wake up.”
Zane’s voice is almost enough to pull me out of the fog, but the pain is so great that even thinking about opening my eyes is too much.
“Please, Tessa.” He shakes me, and fresh agony shoots through every inch of my battered body.
“I need you.” His choked plea has me trying to move.
I flex my fingers toward him, and his warm hand closes around mine.
“I’m going to kill him for this.” His fury is what reaches down and finally rips me out of the fog.
Because, no matter how angry he is, my dad is still bigger. Meaner. And unlike Zane, he won’t hesitate for fear of hurting someone.
“Please don’t,” I whisper as I open my eyes. “I’m okay, honestly.”
“Then I’m calling Officer Leopold. Now.” He gets up off the floor and reaches into his pocket for the cell phone his mom has him take whenever he leaves the house.
“You can’t. Please. He’s my dad.”
“And you’re my girlfriend,” Zane says. “I won’t let him keep doing this to you.”
“He won’t.” I try to sit up. “Please, Zane. I just need you right now.” Tears burn in my eyes as I remember hit after hit.
I’d come home too late.
I hadn’t brought dinner.
I needed to be taught a lesson.
Zane kneels in front of me and cups my cheeks. “Then leave with me. Come with me, Tessa. I’ll make sure he never hurts you again. Please, baby. Just come with me.” His gorgeous green eyes are full of pain, and I know I must look rough.
I certainly feel it.
The closer we get to graduation, the worse it’s getting.
“Leave with me, and I won’t call Officer Leopold. But if you choose to stay, I will call. Even if it means you end up hating me. I won’t let this happen anymore.”
Zane brushes tears from my cheeks.
I’ve wanted to run away my entire life. But I could never bring myself to do it because I’m all my dad has. What if I leave and something happens to him?
What if I stay and something happens to me?
Don’t I get to choose me?
“Please, Tessa,” Zane pleads.
Fear pushes past the pain, and even though the idea terrifies me, I nod. “Okay, Zane. I’ll go.”
“Then let’s go now. He’s passed out, but we don’t have long.” He straightens and starts shoving things into my backpack. All I can do is sit there and watch him. Is this really it? The last time I will stand in this room?
I get to my feet and sway, but a hand on the dresser keeps me standing as I open the top drawer and reach to the bottom to pull out a small floral brooch. My grandmother gave it to me just before she passed away.
She was the only family I ever knew who had a tender hand.
It was after she passed that my dad really lost himself in the liquor.
He turned into the man who raised him, giving in to the pain of losing his mother and taking it out on me.
That’s the only reason I’ve struggled to stay.
Because I thought that maybe, somewhere deep down inside the monster… was my dad.
But that was only the foolish dream of a child.
I shove the brooch into my pocket right as Zane finishes cramming what he can into my backpack.
“Okay, baby. Let’s go.” He takes my hand and tugs me toward the door. After peering out into the hallway, he steps out.
My dad’s drunken snoring carries toward us from the living room, and as we step inside, the adrenaline surges through my veins.
What if he wakes up?
What will he do to Zane?
I keep my eyes on him the entire time, watching him like one might watch an approaching predator. When he doesn’t wake even as we open the door and step out onto the rickety porch, the freedom I’d been so afraid to hope for surges through my veins.
Zane shoulders my backpack, then lifts me into his arms and rushes down the porch. He moves quickly even as he holds me, the only sound our mixed breathing and the gravel crunching beneath his boots.
About half a mile down, he sets me down beside his truck, then unlocks the door and helps me climb inside. It’s not until he’s behind the wheel and we’re headed toward his house that I let out the breath I’ve been holding.
My body begins to tremble, the adrenaline leaving me in a rush.
“It’s okay, baby.” Zane reaches for me, so I slide into the center of his bench seat and curl against his body. He presses a kiss to the top of my head. “You’re safe now. I’ll always keep you safe, Tessa. Always.”
“She’s waking up.” A putrid stench beneath my nose rips me from the dream. My vision hazy, I come awake in the main office space of Southeast Environmental Commission. “There you are, sweetheart. How nice to see you again.”
He smiles, and even through the drowsiness of just coming to consciousness, his face isn’t one I’ll forget. Dark brows, short hair, a scar right on the tip of his chin, he’s unmistakable. “You. You lied to me.”
The man who hired me in that diner, what feels like lifetimes ago, leans back against the counter behind him and crosses his arms. “Don’t beat yourself up. You were so desperate for any kind of attention; you would have fallen for anything.” He looks past me. “Do we have confirmation yet?”
“Not yet,” another man replies.
“Confirmation of what? Why am I here? What is happening?”
He shifts his attention back to me. “Oh, my bad. Here, you’ll want to see this.” He spins the office chair I’m bound to, my wrists zip-tied behind my back, until I’m facing a TV screen.
It takes me a moment to realize what it is I’m looking at.
The news is on with coverage of a building collapse in Savannah on the screen.
The thing looks nothing like a building anymore, just a pile of rubble.
Concrete and steel beams alike. Dust is still settling, and emergency responders are moving through the rubble with search and rescue dogs.
“We’re told that there were four men inside when the building came down.
It’s unknown if they worked there or were seeking shelter for the night.
” The footage transitions to a newsroom where a woman with curly blonde hair is sitting behind a desk, a mask of sadness on her face.
“No survivors have been recovered, and at this point, it’s looking more like a recovery. ”
Four bodies. Downtown Savannah.
No.
“What is this?” I demand, tears already in my eyes because I know enough to piece together what I’m looking at.
“I can see all over your face that you know.” He grins.
“You know what? People said it would be impossible to get rid of them, but I found that forty thousand tons of concrete will crush even the sturdiest bugs. It also happens to be exactly what you need to rid the world of four former Navy SEALs who should have died a long time ago. And the fifth? Well, you know what happened to him.”
“What? No!” I scream and fight against the bindings holding me. I have to get free. Have to find Zane. He survived. He had to survive.
Horror twists in my gut as the TV screen shifts back to the damage downtown. There’s no way they survived that. If they were in there, they’re gone.
And then my abductor’s words hit me. “He’ll be dead soon. Just like the rest of them.” They killed them all.
No. No. God, please, no. Please, Lord. Don’t let this be true.
“I don’t understand why this is happening. What did they do to you? What do I have to do with any of this?”
“Aww, sweetheart. Unfortunately, you’re collateral damage in this war.
Though, to be honest, you’re not really necessary anymore.
Not now that Knox is dead.” He reaches forward and strokes my chin.
I look away, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of seeing the fear in my eyes, but he pinches my chin and moves me to look at him.
“Boss isn’t quite ready to let you go, though.
Seems she’s taken a dislike to you and has other plans. ”
“What does that—”
“Can you stop socializing and just get the job done?” A feminine voice orders as heels click on the tile floor.
Her voice isn’t one I’ll forget anytime soon, so when Brenda steps into my line of sight, I’m not at all surprised.
“You,” I growl. “He trusted you! They all did!”
“Trust?” She arches a brow. “Hardly. Fear would be a more accurate term. Either way, they served their purpose and became liabilities. You saw to that.”
“You killed them?” I choke on the words because, even as I see the collapsed building before me, even as I can still picture Garrison’s blood pouring from his wound and pooling on the floor beneath him, speaking them out loud makes it real. “No. No. I won’t believe it.”
Brenda grips either side of my chair. “Well, believe it, Tessa Lane. But don’t worry. You’ll be joining them soon because we have big, big plans for you.”