36. Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Six
B rooke tried not to panic about Mindy Sue and Tony being late picking her up. They probably got caught in traffic after the movie let out. She hated to interrupt their date, but even the thought of walking across campus alone sent her heart rate into overdrive.
Her stalker was still sending her gifts and leaving notes and pictures for her in her classes. He avoided her dorm room because of the added security.
Except the night of her birthday last week. That really freaked her out.
Twenty-one. It still hit her at odd times that she had finally reached that milestone.
Her birthday had been fun, even if she didn’t get to experience what most college students did and drink herself silly. She’d loved the ice cream party with her closest friends.
It seemed like a great night right up until she arrived at her dorm and discovered yet another stalker gift and woke up the next morning to the news that he’d raped someone.
That poor woman.
Brook couldn’t stop thinking about it.
The four attacks on campus left her feeling vulnerable and like she was inevitably going to be his ultimate target. That’s why she’d started wearing the big cardigan to hide her baby bump. Some small measure of protection, even if it didn’t convince everyone she wasn’t pregnant.
A shiver of cold dread raced up her spine. Constantly on guard and in a state of near panic every time she left the relative safety of her dorm room or one of her classrooms, she hated going out at all now.
Even being in the library made her feel like a sitting duck.
She smoothed her hand over her belly, trying to ease herself and the baby.
She always had someone with her when she went out. She and Mindy Sue had made it a habit now. Neither of them went anywhere alone. They had enough friends between them to make it possible to find someone who could go with them between classes, or out to eat.
Her friend Julie had walked her to the library tonight and stayed as long as she could before meeting Jeremiah. Mindy Sue and Tony promised to pick her up before closing.
If they didn’t show soon, she’d contact campus security and request an escort home.
Brooke felt the baby roll and rubbed her growing belly again to soothe her daughter. She’d found out at the end of May she was having a girl. Excited beyond measure, she felt the awe of carrying a life inside her every time the baby kicked or rolled. She didn’t even mind waking up in the night when the baby stretched her legs and did somersaults. Brooke felt so blessed.
It eased the sting of losing Cody and made it worse at the same time because he wasn’t here to share it with her.
One of the library staff headed her way.
Brooke packed up her stuff. She had her term paper finished and even managed to get some studying done for her Business Management class. All she had to do now was get through finals and graduate.
June third had been her twenty-first birthday and the day she’d become financially independent. She finally had her own money. Until a week ago, Cody had controlled her trust and paid out her tuition and dorm fees. Her monthly allowance had come from her share of the ranch profits.
“Miss, the library is closing.”
“Yes, thank you. I’ll just call my friend to see if she’s here to drive me back to the dorms.”
“That’s a good idea. Can’t be too careful these days. If you’ll head to the front of the library, I’d appreciate it.”
“Sure.” Brooke grabbed her cell phone, stood, and lifted her backpack onto her shoulder.
Brooke walked to the front doors of the library, but didn’t see Mindy Sue. All the other students filed out. Just her luck, she didn’t recognize anyone from her dorm, or any of her classes. Her cell phone beeped, indicating she had several missed calls. She scrolled through the list of numbers. Her mom had called. Again. Probably to complain she hadn’t come home for her birthday last week.
Of the five calls she’d missed, four of them were from Mindy Sue. She listened to her voicemail and Mindy Sue telling her she was running late. “No kidding.”
She hit the speed dial and didn’t even hear the phone ring before Mindy Sue picked up.
“How far away are you?”
“Less than five minutes. Are you okay?”
“I’m hungry.” Brooke laughed. She was always hungry these days.
Mindy Sue laughed with her, relief in her voice. “Sorry, I had this strange feeling something was wrong.”
“I’m fine.” Brooke said the words, but it had been a long time since she felt fine. The stress was getting to her.
Cody. The stalker. Finals coming up. Missing her mom and home. Planning for the arrival of her baby girl. The list went on.
It was a lot to handle mostly on her own.
“I think there might still be a pint of ice cream in the freezer.”
“Are there any of those cheese curl chips left too?”
“You eat the strangest things. I don’t know about the chips, but there’s an apple and an orange on the desk. Eat those.”
“You’re right. I will. How about I meet you guys at the south parking lot. There’s a covered bus stop with lights. I can sit and wait for you.”
“Just wait in the library.”
“They’re about to lock the doors with me inside. I’ll meet you at the parking lot. It’ll only be two minutes at the most and there are a couple of other students headed that way. I’ll tag along with them.”
“Okay, but you stay put. We’ll be there in a few minutes.”
The librarian waved her arm, shooing everyone out. “Come on, I need to get home or my babysitter will quit because I’m late again.”
Brooke tucked her cell in her back pocket. She wished she’d worn one of her dresses. They were less constricting than pants, even if they were maternity wear. She headed down the library steps, the click of the locks sounding behind her.
She kept the phone in her hand as she made her way down the path that led around the building to the parking lot in the rear. She followed three other students headed in the same direction. Nothing would happen with them so close.
A beautiful star-studded night, not too hot or humid. She gazed up at the bright stars and wished she were at the creek. She loved it there late at night with the water rushing by and the quiet of the night wrapped around her. She loved it when the breeze whispered through the leaves, making them whistle in the wind. She wondered if she’d ever see her perfect little getaway again.
Maybe when she took the baby to see her father.
Cody would teach her to ride when she got older, just like he’d taught Brooke. She hoped her daughter loved horses as much as she did.
The three other students she’d been following disappeared around the corner to the parking lot. She hurried to catch up. The two lights above this section of the path had burned out or something. She looked at her phone to turn on her light, but got distracted by a rustling noise coming from the nearby bushes. She looked into the shadows, but didn’t see anything. Still, her heart jackhammered and her mind conjured one horror after the next.
She hurried to close the distance between her and the other students but stumbled on a crack in the pavement with her unsteady pregnancy bod and had to slow down again.
Suddenly she heard the scrape and thump of footsteps behind her. She tried to turn and face the threat she felt all the way to her bones, but an arm came around her neck and another wrapped around her chest and suddenly she was pulled up against a tall, thin body.
“Hi, Brooke.”
She wanted to believe the guy was a friend or classmate just being overly affectionate with his surprise hello. Greg from her business class who was an outrageous flirt. Thomas, who worked at the campus bookstore and asked her out before he realized she was pregnant under the cardigan she usually wore.
But no. This felt off from an overly friendly, or even drunk and happy, guy snuggling up to her like they knew each other as more than passing acquaintances.
She couldn’t shake the creepy feeling she got every time she felt like her stalker was watching her. But she didn’t want to be wrong and offend someone she knew either, even though every internal alarm went off the second he touched her.
“Do I know you? Your voice. It sounds familiar, but I’m sorry, I can’t place it.” The man wasn’t much bigger than her. Based on the skinny arm she could see and the frame of him pressed up behind her, she knew he wasn’t that big of a guy.
His head pressed to the side of hers. “Of course you know me. You understand me better than anyone. You see me the way others don’t,” he said, excitement in every word.
The only man she knew like that was Cody, and it wasn’t his tall, muscular frame pressed up against her. It wasn’t his deep, familiar voice at her ear.
But God, she wished he were here right now.
She wished she’d stayed in the library and waited for Mindy Sue and Tony to come to her. They’d be here any second.
But it didn’t matter, because she wasn’t safe anywhere, because the man holding her wanted her, and he’d stop at nothing to have her.
She’d been warned by campus security and the police detective working the assault cases.
She tried to turn her head to see who had been terrorizing her for the last six months.
His arm drew tighter around her throat. “Don’t. Not yet. I don’t want to spoil the surprise. Just say you’ll come with me. I’ve got my place all set up. It’s perfect. Everything you like. I’ve seen to every detail, right down to the same blankets you have on your dorm bed, the food you like to eat, even the soap and shampoo you use.”
An ominous chill went down her spine.
How did he know those things?
“You’ll love it. And I’ll love you tonight like I’ve wanted to for months. I know you’ve been waiting for me. I just needed time to make everything perfect, to be what you’d want me to be. I’ll show you I’m the man you’ve always wanted. I’ve finally become the person no one else but you could see inside me.”
She tried to stall. “My friends are waiting in the parking lot to pick me up. Let me just tell them I’m going with you.”
“Mindy Sue will understand. She’s your best friend. She’ll want you to be happy. I will make you happy.”
She prayed someone came along and found them. “I wish I could, but I’m tired, and I’d like to go home. Maybe we could do this another time.”
“No.” He shook her. “It has to be tonight. I’ve been practicing.” He sounded manic as he shook her again. “I’m ready.” His tone turned menacing and she shivered with fear.
“Please. Let me go. You’re scaring me.”
He rubbed his cheek against her head again. “I’m sorry.” He sounded sincere. Then he didn’t. “But you need to do what I say. I have this all planned out. Everything is ready. Now come with me.” He dragged her several steps back toward the grass and bushes and away from the library parking lot. “My car is parked on the other side of the small grove of trees. Come on.”
“Stop,” she shouted, pushing against the arm around her throat to get him to stop pulling her backward and so she could get some much-needed air.
“Don’t fight me, Brooke. You know you want this.”
She struggled against his grip even more. “Stop. I don’t want to go with you.” She sucked in a breath to scream.
He suddenly stopped pulling her along with him and the scream lodged in her throat when he pressed the tip of a knife to her cheek. “Don’t do it. You know I don’t want to hurt you. The waiting is finally over. You don’t have to keep looking for me everywhere you go. I’m here, Brooke. We can finally be together.”
She froze, knowing this had gone to a whole other level of dangerous. Strong with a thin build, a knife he’d used in the other attacks to subdue his victims—he had the advantage, but she still wondered if she could fight him off.
She’d do anything to save herself and her baby.
She held perfectly still and tried to think of what to say to get herself out of this mess. The guy was insane and obviously delusional.
“Thank you for the gifts,” she suddenly blurted out.
He rubbed his nose into her hair and she felt the mask she knew he wore when he attacked the other women. “I wanted you to know I was always with you, even though I couldn’t be with you yet. I hadn’t yet become the man you saw in me.”
She finally remembered the phone in her hand. She swiped her thumb across the screen and though she could barely see the screen down by her thigh and out of his view, she managed to hit the speed dial she set up for 911. She hoped the call went through. She hoped they could hear and find her before anything else happened.
“If you really care about me, you’ll let me go.”
“I did all of this for you. You need to come with me so you can see your surprise and we can finally be together.” He pulled her harder this time, dragging her along after him across the grass, into the bushes, headed straight for the trees and the street beyond. His erection rubbed against her bottom, grinding into her every time he took a step.
She didn’t want to think about what he wanted to do to her. She only knew that she needed to protect her baby. She let her bag fall from her shoulder. It dropped near some bushes as they came into a relatively clear space inside the trees. This was her chance. If he took her any farther from the library building, she might not be found at all.
“Please. You don’t want to do this. You don’t want to hurt me. Put the knife down and we’ll talk.” She hoped 911 heard her, that they’d already sent help.
“Shut up. We’ll be there soon.”
Tears welled in her eyes. This couldn’t be happening. Her voice shook. “Please. Don’t do this. You don’t want to hurt me, or my baby. Please, don’t hurt my baby.”
It had been a calculated risk to talk about the baby. Her belly had only really popped over the last couple weeks. Because of it, she’d been wearing much looser clothes to accommodate her growing bump, except tonight when she’d pulled on yoga pants and a tunic.
She felt the difference in him immediately. He hadn’t known.
He’d been vibrating with anticipation. Like he had all kinds of pent-up energy just waiting to be unleashed. Now he went stone still.
Time seemed to grind to a halt as they stood among the trees. He held her tightly in his arm with the knife to her cheek. She barely felt the slice of the blade across her skin and the blood that ran down her face. The sirens in the distance faded behind the blood rushing in her ears. Her focus shrank to the quiet solitude beneath the canopy of tree branches and the man on the verge of doing something terrible.
The stillness gave way to a cry so feral she didn’t recognize it as the man completely losing his mind, and screaming, “Noooo!”
She was connected to him , belonged to him .
He’d felt it at the party.
He spun her around and held her by the shoulders. The evidence of her betrayal couldn’t be denied. All this time he’d prepared to show her she belonged to him, and she’d gotten pregnant with another man’s bastard.
He shook her. “You were supposed to be special. You weren’t like the rest of them.”
He’d used those other women, but Brooke was supposed to be the one who really wanted him. She’d seen into him. She knew how he felt inside.
She’d seen past what everyone else saw and looked deeper.
Blood rushing, rage rampaging through his system, he couldn’t think or hear anything. He could only see Brooke and how she’d betrayed him. “You were supposed to be mine!”
He rushed her, plunging the knife down in a wide arc. She tried to turn to get away, to run, but the knife sank into the front of her shoulder with such power, it forced her to turn back toward him. He pulled the knife free and stabbed her again in almost the same spot.
Her eyes went wide as she screamed in agonizing pain.
He didn’t care. He wanted her to hurt the way she made him hurt. “You were mine! Why? Why would you do this, you spoiled bitch.” He pulled the knife free again, slashing at her several times, but something came over her and she fought back, blocking him from stabbing her again. “You ruined everything!” He backed her up as he brought the knife down on her again and again, slicing up her arms and hands. The more times he hit her and the more blood he saw, the greater the need to make her pay.
“Betrayer!” He sliced her again. “Bitch!” He stabbed her arm. “Whore!” He cut her across her fingers.
The adrenaline that had run through his system making him want to fuck her had turned into a red haze of rage.
He wanted her dead.
Instead of trying to back away this time, she came at him, grabbing his ski mask and smacking him in the face. He shoved her back. The ski mask pulled free in her hand and for the first time, she saw his face.
He looked right at her, his breath coming out heavy against her face. He held her bloody arm in one of his hands and the knife in the other poised above her. She had her hand on his chest ready to push him away.
“Adam?” she said, shocked.
Without thought, blinded by rage and panic, everything tunneled in, focused on her, he plunged the knife down and buried it in her. The slippery blood ran over the knife handle, oozing through his fingers and making the knife slip from his grip.
She came after him with a vengeance. She hit him in the face and raked her nails down his cheek.
He grabbed her wrist to keep her from scratching him again. Off-balance, they fell to the ground, her arm hitting a large rock and snapping under the force.
Despite the broken arm, she kept struggling.
With blood on his gloves, he couldn’t hold her.
She slipped out of his tight grip, scrambled up, and tried to run. He grabbed her ankle and held tight as she got up, twisting her foot and bringing her down again. She kicked and struggled, but he gripped her legs and climbed up her body as they fought in the dirt.
Adam rolled her onto her back and stared down at her, shocked.
Brooke looked down, her eyes went wide, and a scream rose up out of her and echoed through him.
They both stared at the knife handle sticking out of her swollen belly.
Stunned, Adam’s world stopped. He couldn’t believe what he saw. Blood covered her shoulder and her arms, but it was the blood pumping out of the wound on her belly that left him reeling. Dark red oozed freely out from under the pulsing handle of the knife. Her rounded belly, a reminder of the small, innocent baby inside her.
Sound exploded around him and echoed in his head. Sirens squealed and people yelled Brooke’s name.
Fear washed through him, along with agonizing remorse. He needed to get away.
He leapt up and ran through the trees, leaving her lying in the dirt, blood flowing out of her with every beat of her heart winding down. She couldn't survive that.
Oh God. What have I done?
Brooke’s head fell back and thudded in the dirt. She stared up at the stars peeking through the tree branches and felt a wash of numbness come over her.
Someone yelled her name.
Afraid to die alone, she sucked in a breath and rasped out as loud as she could, “I’m here!”
Tears streamed down her face. She knew the life inside her had extinguished. She felt it all the way to her soul.
Emptiness like a deep chasm opened up inside her and swallowed her whole.
Moaning in anguish and trying to catch her breath, she sobbed. She didn’t speak when the officers found her. She couldn’t manage more than, “My baby’s dead.”
The look on their faces said it all. They agreed with her.
She couldn’t take it.
Passing out would have been a blessing, but the blackness she wanted to welcome refused to come. She was forced to look into the sad and devastated faces of the policemen and paramedics as they quickly wrapped her bloody arms, strapped her to a board, and carried her out of the trees.
The last thing she saw was Mindy Sue in Tony’s arms as they approached before the paramedics put her into the ambulance. She could only manage to tell Mindy Sue one thing. “Don’t let them c-call h-home. P-promise.”
Mindy Sue gasped at the sight of the knife sticking out of her belly. “Brooke, you need your family.”
“N-no. C-call your d-dad.”
Brooke lost track of time after that. First she was in the ambulance, then she was surrounded by a team of doctors and nurses all calling out information and orders before she was rushed into an operating room and some nice man did what she really wanted and knocked her out.
She woke up in recovery, aching with a loss so profound and deep and dark she wished she’d never woken up at all. “W-where’s my b-baby. I want to s-see h-her.”
The nurse put her hand on Brooke’s good shoulder. “I’m so sorry for your loss. You need to rest now.”
Brooke fell into oblivion again.
“Brooke, sweetie.” Mindy Sue touched her cheek sometime later. “Are you awake?”
Brooke couldn’t stand to open her eyes and see the damage Adam inflicted on her body. “Where is she? I need to see her. Why won’t they let me see her?”
Mindy Sue brushed her hand over Brooke’s hair. “I’m so sorry. You’re going to be all right.”
She’d never be okay again. “He killed my baby.” The wail filled with all her pain and agony tore through her and made everything else hurt more. Every wracking sob compounded her pain.
“Brooke, please. Calm down. I don’t want you to hurt yourself more.”
She couldn’t hurt any worse.
“I’m so sorry, sweetie.” Mindy Sue leaned over her and gently held her close while she cried. Brooke felt her friend’s tears drip onto her cheek.
She cried herself back into a fitful sleep, filled with agonizing images of Adam attacking her. She heard his voice. She felt him all around her and coming at her. She remembered how hard she fought to save herself and the baby.
But she lost.
And now she didn’t want to live without her little girl.
She woke again later. Hours. Days. She didn’t know how much time had passed. She didn’t care. It didn’t matter.
Mr. Wagner walked into her room. He pulled Mindy Sue up from her chair and hugged her so close and so tight it choked Brooke up just seeing it. “I love you so much, honey. The thought that it could have been you in that bed… I’ll never forget the fear I felt when you called last night and told me what happened to Brooke. Did she say anything?”
“They won’t let her see her baby, Daddy.” Tears fell down Mindy Sue’s cheeks.
Her father gently wiped them away.
Brooke closed her eyes on the tender scene, too emotional to watch anymore. She didn’t have a father anymore.
Her mother would be devastated when she heard what happened.
Cody used to be her friend. Now they only spoke through text. Well, except for her birthday. He’d hate her for not saving his child.
He’d lost two now.
She ached for him as much as she hurt for herself.
The doctor came in and updated Mr. Wagner and Mindy Sue on her condition. Most of the cuts on her arms were stitched up; the two stab wounds to her shoulder required surgery to repair and close; she had a broken arm requiring a removable cast thanks to the pins they put in and the deep, stitched cuts that needed to be tended, and a severely sprained ankle. Her leg was in a walking brace. Her abdomen had suffered the worst injury—besides her shattered heart.
The surgeon had performed an emergency C-section to stop the massive bleeding, and repair the damage done by the six-inch blade. The doctor assured them she’d heal.
Right. Everything but her heart would mend itself back together.
Mr. Wagner asked about her daughter. “Can she see the baby?”
She could barely hear the doctor’s reply. “The baby was injured quite badly. The psychiatrist believes seeing the trauma the baby suffered would only traumatize Brooke more than she’s already been.”
Brooke didn’t want to hear that. She wanted to hold her child and see her grow up into a beautiful woman. She wanted to put the baby in Cody’s arms and watch him light up with joy. But she couldn’t hold her baby. She couldn’t give him that happiness.
And Adam needed to pay for all of it.
Brooke turned and opened her eyes. “Mr. Wagner, please.” The tears came again. It seemed they were never far from spilling over.
“Yes, honey. What can I do?”
She beckoned him to come closer so only he’d hear her request and whispered in his ear. “Get to Adam Harris before the governor does.”
His eyes went wide. “It’s too late. It’s all over the news. He tried to commit suicide. His mom and dad found him just in time.”
Too late. They’d cover it up. She turned away from him and lost any hope she’d ever get justice for her little girl.