Chapter 27
“Thank you for this, Imogene. It truly has been so lovely catching up.” Marco wiped her blood from the blade he’d just sliced across her leg. The world was fuzzy and cold, and slowly slipping away from her.
In the past several hours, she’d endured countless cuts to her body, her arms and legs sliced so badly she couldn’t feel them anymore in the middle of the cold basement. Emma had blacked out at some point, only to have him wait for her to regain consciousness before continuing on with the torture.
“You see, I have the most amazing wife in Natalie. She is my actual wife, not like how I’d pretended with you before. She loves me, and Addie…” he tipped his head to the side, “or would you like me to call her by the name you gave her? Luna. Yes, sweet Luna loves her daddy and mommy more than anything in the whole world. It’s been such a blessing getting to watch Natalie raise her. A complete joy, that I would have gotten to be more present for if I wasn’t having to hunt you down to make sure you paid your final debt to me. My own family punished me for your escape. My own flesh and blood. You’d think one stupid girl that they didn’t get to sell wouldn’t be that big of a deal, but I guess they already had a buyer lined up for you after you had my daughter. The thing is, Imogene, I’ve paid my penance. This is yours. It’s long overdue, don’t you think? Had we not had our little….dalliance…and had you not become pregnant with Addie, well, this would have been over years ago. You gave me such a precious gift in my daughter. I guess all this time you’ve had to live is the balance for that.”
His blade touched her chest and her body yearned to scream out, but there was nothing left for her to give. “The family wanted me to bring you back, you know? To sell you to a different buyer. But that just doesn’t seem like a fair exchange for all the grief you’ve given me, running away like that.”
Flashes of Sebastian winning the date-night auction flooded her mind. God, that night had been so beautiful. A start to something they now would never get to finish. And she had been so adamant that she’d be safe with Natalie, Sebastian and the guys wouldn’t even think anything was wrong until she was already gone.
He sighed. “Knowing that I took the chance for you to ever have more children was a balm to my soul as I endured being exiled from my family. As I scoured the world for you.” A single tear fell from her eye. “Oh, Imogene. Were you longing to have a baby with your billionaire boyfriend? How difficult it must have been to share with him that you are so utterly defective as a woman. You know, I truly enjoyed delivering our daughter into the world, and then taking out every organ that would give you the chance to have another child in the future.”
Emma gasped. It hit her that Natalie hadn’t lied about her husband’s career. Marco was a doctor. He was the surgeon that took everything from her. Tears poured down her face.
“Is that why he abandoned you just in time for my little visit? I had always planned to hold onto you for a little, or rather large, payday from him before killing you. But now that I know Mr. Moneybags doesn’t really care about you, I guess I’ll just have to settle for the pleasure I’ll get from dropping you off in front of his building while you’re on the edge of life and death. How fun it will be to see the two of you together, knowing that you can’t be saved and that our daughter, the only child you’ll ever bring into this world, will forever remain in my care, completely unaware of who you were to her.”
He cupped Emma’s cheek, sliding his hand into her hair. Marco pulled her head towards his, inhaling her scent as he pulled roughly on her roots. The intimate act made her stomach clench, saliva flooding her mouth as she fought back the bile in her throat.
“Still so deliciously sweet, even with all the fear pulsating through you. Such a shame you couldn’t behave. I could have molded you into something great.”
Releasing her hair from his grip, Marco turned, pulling a syringe and a vial of clear liquid out of his bag.
“W-what is t-that?” she forced the words out.
“Shhh, just something to ensure you don’t remember the little secret I revealed about Natalie and Adeline. I’d hate for you to say something to that idiot protector of yours before you die in his arms.”
The needle plunged into her neck and she instantly felt her body pull towards nothingness. The darkness overwhelmed her, and her eyes fell shut.
* * *
Marco laid Emma on the sidewalk in front of Montgomery Equities. Her vision blurred and everything swam in front of her. She could just barely make out the logo on the large window she was laying in front of.
The flash of a metal blade caught her eye.
“P-please. No c-cuts.”
“Darling. You should know I’ve already finished my masterpiece across your body. This isn’t going to be a little cut in your skin that you could easily heal from. No. I need something to ensure that you aren’t walking away from this. I almost hate to do it, this little reunion of ours has been so fun, but all good things must come to an end.”
Marco lifted her shirt, dragging the cold metal across her skin. Her flesh pebbled painfully and she felt his free hand go over her mouth at the same time he plunged the knife into her belly.
She had no energy left, but couldn’t stop her breath from forcing a scream to rip from her throat. No one would hear it, of course, because of Marco’s hand pressing down painfully over her mouth. A moment later, he released her, smiling down as he just walked away.
It was still so dark out, it couldn’t be more than four or five in the morning. She didn’t understand why Marco would leave her there now, when there was still so much time to go before Sebastian would be up for the day. Hadn’t he wanted her to die in Sebastian’s arms? Wasn’t that the point of all this? He got his happy ending with her daughter and his wife, and she was forced to die with Sebastian looking on.
Her mind drifted in and out of consciousness. Every bit of her exposed skin was cold. Shivers tore through her bones, so severe she thought they might all snap from the force. How long had she been outside? If only she had enough strength to make some sort of noise. To somehow call out for help. But she barely had enough to make sure her body still pulled oxygen into it, to make sure that her heart still beat.
The only warmth she felt was coming from the stab wound in her belly. She could feel the blood soaking her shirt, no doubt the most serious of her injuries. Taking stock of the rest of her body, she wiggled her fingers and toes, wanting so badly to scream at the pain that scorched through her as she did, but too weak to.
Why wasn’t anyone coming to help her? She was going to die right there on the sidewalk, and never be able to tell Sebastian the truth. She would die with their fight being the last thing between them, and that hurt almost worse than all her injuries combined.
Suddenly, the buzzing that had taken over in her ears faded against an unexpected sound. Footsteps? Was someone actually going to find her in time?
Whoever it was, they were definitely getting closer.
“Emma? Emma!”
Oh God. Gage.
His voice was filled with panic, and a wave of guilt washed over her that he was the one to find her in such a sad state. “Fuck! Hold on sweetheart, I’m going to get help. You’re okay, you hear me? You’re going to be okay.”
“D-don’t leave, Gage,” her words slurred as she tried to force them out.
“No, Emma, shit, I’m not. I’m just calling for an ambulance. I don’t want to move you myself.”
“I-I love h-him.”
She felt his warm hand pressing down on her forehead, gently sweeping the hair off her face.
“Shhh. I know you do.”
Her throat felt like it was on fire, burning through her vocal cords. Still, she pushed the words out.
“I need him to know. I l-love him.” A tear escaped from the corner of her swollen eye. “Tell him I love him.”
“Emma. Please. Don’t talk anymore. Just rest. You’re going to be fine and you can tell him that yourself.” His voice caught in his throat, and as she closed her eyes she could hear him talking, rattling off the details of their location and her injuries.
“D-drugged me, Gage. S-so t-tired.”
Warmth spread into her extremities, the pain slowly fading away into the back of her mind. She just wanted Sebastian to know how she really felt about him. Her damn pride had gotten in the way. Thinking of their last time together was too painful.
“Cap,” she heard Gage’s voice, behind a thick veil of fog. “Get downstairs. Emma’s hurt. It’s bad.”
“My baby…” she whispered. “Addie…”
“Em? Em! Stay awake. Don’t you dare close your eyes! You hear me?” She didn’t respond. “I’m so sorry sweetheart, but I need to put pressure on your belly, okay? I need to try to slow the bleeding.”
She was nearly incoherent before, but the pressure against the spot where Marco had stabbed her caused her to scream out in pain just as the sweet relief of darkness took over.
* * *
“This better be important, Tracker. It’s not even the ass crack of dawn ye?—”
“Cap. Get downstairs. Emma’s hurt. It’s bad.” The phone immediately disconnected.
What the fuck? She was supposed to be with Natalie last night. What could have fucking happened? Why hadn’t they gotten a notification anything was wrong from Natalie’s security system?
Jumping up, Seb grabbed a pair of sweatpants and the first t-shirt he could find and dressed as he ran out of his apartment. As soon as he came down the stairs, he could see Gage, kneeling on the sidewalk next to a crumpled figure. Wetness surrounded the spot on the sidewalk where they were, and nothing added up in his mind.
“What’s going on?” He raced towards them. “What the FUCK happened? She was supposed to be with Natalie!” His heart slammed violently in his chest as he took in the scene before him.
Emma was covered in blood, Gage holding his shirt over what he could only assume was a wound in her belly. She looked so small and broken. As his eyes swept over her body, Seb fought the nausea rising into his throat as he saw hundreds of cuts all over her beautiful skin.
“What the fuck happened, Gage?” His voice trembled, thick with tears.
“I-I don’t know, Cap. I just found her like this.” Seb watched Gage’s panicked eyes searching up and down the street. “Where is that fucking ambulance? She’s going to bleed out.”
Sebastian fell to his knees next to her, gently placing his hand on her arm, terrified that touching her anywhere else might cause her pain. He felt for the pulse in her wrist and her neck, but couldn’t feel anything.
“I can’t find her pulse. Fuck! Keep pressure on that wound. I’m going to start CPR.”
“Oh fuck,” Gage whispered, his head whipping wildly back and forth between Emma and the sound of sirens.
“Don’t you dare leave me, Sprinkles. Not now. Not like this. You fight. You don’t let him win.” His arms ached from the force he was having to exert to pump Emma’s heart, but he wouldn’t stop. Not ever. Not until she came back to him. There was still so much to say, so much to do. “I love you, you hear me? I love you so much, Emma, and I need to be able to say it to you with your beautiful hazel eyes staring at me. I need you to fight, Em. Fight, damn it!”
He felt her rib crack, and wanted to cry. Tears burned at his eyes, but he wouldn’t let them fall. If they did, they would overwhelm him, and Sebastian needed every fiber of his being to be focused on saving Emma.
He pushed, and pushed, not relenting on the chest compressions. Not even when an arm touched his shoulder. Not even when he heard Gage’s voice off in the distance yelling at him.
“You have to let the EMTs do their job, Cap. You have to move.” Gage hauled Sebastian away from Emma, his attention finally breaking free from the tunnel he’d been trapped in.
“She has a pulse.”
He’d never heard more beautiful words in his whole life.
In a flash, Emma had been moved into the ambulance, and the doors closed around her.
“We have to go, Gage. I need to be there with her.”
He nodded. Seb reached into his pocket and pulled out his keys, handing them to Gage without a second thought. There was no way he could drive without wrecking. All he wanted was to be with her. To hold her in his arms and tell her how much he loved her. The thought that he may not ever be able to was too much to bear.