Chapter 2 #2
She wasn’t particularly surprised that he had recognized Atlas.
The two men swam in the same giant shark pools—the pools with too much money and power.
While Atlas controlled the largest research and development company in the US, Preston sat on a ton of cash and property due to his real estate empire.
“Sir, sir, you need to let her go so that we can fully examine you both.” Words that came from the female EMT. A woman with tattoos on each hand, determined blue eyes, and a worried expression.
Preston had locked his fingers around one of Sloane’s wrists. Her left wrist. She stared at his hand. Like hers, it was covered in dirt. But…
There was blood on his hand. On his forearm. Her gaze jerked to his other hand—same thing. Bloody fingers. Bloody forearms. “You’re hurt!”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“Ahem, sir, it does matter.” Determined words from the female EMT. “We need to examine you. You’re bleeding, and you could need stitches. We need to see if you have any broken bones and check your oxygen levels and—”
“He was drugged,” Sloane blurted. “I don’t know what he was given. He needs to get to the hospital, now.”
The male EMT rushed for the front of the ambulance. Probably to go and tell the driver to haul ass.
“Atlas Bennett found you.” Preston did not move. “How in the hell did he do that?”
Her gaze remained on his damaged hands. “You broke us out of that coffin.” That was why he was bleeding. She eased her hand from his grasp, but just so she could then catch his fingers. She carefully turned over his hand. “You pounded until you got us out.”
“How did Atlas find you?”
Her stare lifted. She got caught by his stare. Green eyes. Glittering, intent, green eyes. Dark hair. With all the dirt, it was hard to tell the color of his hair for certain, but…
Brown. She knew his hair was brown. Because she’d seen him before this night.
Because she’d been stalking him…
Long before this terrible night.
She’d been planning to finally approach him. And then… She’d watched him get kidnapped right in front of her.
The EMTs were bustling around them. The male was back, helping his partner. The ambulance siren shrieked.
“My bracelet is gone,” Sloane heard herself say. Her head whipped toward the back of the ambulance. The doors were still open. Lily stood there, watching her. Lily was always so watchful. So intent. So serious.
Atlas was positioned right behind his wife. Watching. Taking in everything, but he had one arm curled around Lily’s stomach as he pulled her up against him.
“I’ll get you another one,” Lily vowed.
“It’s in the grave,” Sloane told her friend. “It fell…I-I was in the grave.” The horror of that statement shook through her. Tears pricked her eyes, but she blinked them away.
“You’re out.” Lily stepped forward, moving even closer to the ambulance. “You’re out, Sloane.”
Yes, they were out.
They were free.
But…
The person who took Preston is still out there. He’s still free, too.
Sloane hadn’t been the target. This whole scene had never been about her. She hadn’t been the prey.
“Ma’am.” The male EMT. Tall. Close-cropped, dark hair.
Warm features. He sent her a reassuring smile.
“Ma’am, I want you to take some oxygen. I want you both to have oxygen.
We’re transporting you to the hospital.” His hand tapped Preston’s shoulder.
“You can both ride in this ambulance together. You can stay close to her, sir. We just need to get you to safety.”
But they were safe.
Weren’t they?
The person who took Preston is still out there.
Her breath shuddered in and out. Too hard. She’d tried to control her breathing for too long. Now it shuddered and the EMT was there.
Preston had moved back.
An oxygen mask slid over her face.
“Breathe in,” the EMT instructed her. He offered her a reassuring smile. “My name is Adam, Adam East.” A nod. “Kinda like the actor from the old Batman TV show.”
He was talking to distract her. To calm her. She got that. Appreciated it.
“You know him, don’t you? The one from the show in the 60’s, the actor who played the hero? Always throwing out all those cheesy punches, left and right? I’m like him, but in the opposite direction. Adam East.”
What?
“I’m here to help you.” His blue eyes held hers. “Exhale.”
Preston was on the other gurney in the back of the ambulance. The female EMT was with him. Putting an oxygen mask over his face. Checking his injuries.
“Take a good, deep breath for me,” the EMT—Adam—encouraged Sloane.
She took a deep breath.
“Sloane, we have to talk to the sheriff, but we’ll meet you at the hospital!” Lily’s voice.
Her head turned toward her friend. Too late. The ambulance doors slammed shut.
“The sheriff will want to speak with you, too,” Adam assured her. “She’ll come to the hospital.”
Sloane shook her head. She didn’t need to go to the hospital. She wasn’t hurt. But she did like the oxygen mask. The air felt clean as she greedily pulled it in.
Not tasting dirt. Not wondering if this is my last breath.
“You’re going to be okay,” Adam told her. “You’re safe now.”
Now. For the moment. She’d gotten out. She was safe. Preston was safe.
Adam eased her down onto the gurney. He began running a series of checks on her. Looking for injuries. Checking her blood pressure. Her heart rate.
Her head turned to the side.
She found Preston staring straight at her.
He took Preston. He buried him.
Just as Preston had been taken and buried when he was fourteen years old. But Preston had escaped that horrible night, too. In fact, back when he’d been fourteen, Preston Byron had been the only person to survive an attack from a serial predator known as the Last Breath Killer.
A twisted perp who had abducted his victims, drugged them, and then trapped the vics in coffins that the killer had carefully built.
The cops had known the victims were alive when they were buried because, inside some of those coffins, they’d found scratch marks on the wood.
They’d found victims with bloody fingernails and hands.
None of the others had escaped their hell. No one…but Preston.
For a second time, he’d cheated death.
But she knew that death was going to be pissed. I have to stay close to Preston. I have to protect him.
So how the hell was she going to accomplish that task? How was she going to convince Preston that he truly could not live without her?