Chapter 31
Thirty-One
EILIDH
To my relief, it seemed Millie was already over her earache.
There was some grouchiness when Fyfe left for work, but it didn’t last long.
I fed her a bit of fruit while I ate my breakfast, and since we were stuck in the house, I let Millie crawl for a while.
She liked to be on the go, so I cleared the way for her to explore a little.
To my delight, she kept pulling herself up to standing, grabbing onto the couch or my legs.
I’d taken her hand and steadied her as she attempted to walk.
Tears burned in my eyes and I wondered if she’d done this for Fyfe yet or if I was witnessing her first attempt at walking.
I couldn’t wait to tell him.
It was around lunchtime, Millie was down for a nap, and I was making a snack.
The TV was on low in the background with a rom-com playing on a streaming app.
So okay, yes, I couldn’t get Fyfe’s words from this morning out of my mind and I was fluttery with nerves and anticipation for his return, and totally confused about … everything.
However, other than that, the moment was calm. My life felt beautifully ordinary and sweet and safe, and it made me happier than any time I’d spent on the set of the show.
I was just thinking how I knew for certain I’d made the right decision walking away from acting when the doorbell rang.
The hair on my neck rose. Attempting to tell myself my reaction was based on Cameron’s behavior and nothing else, I tapped on the wall-mounted security panel before the entrance hall. It was connected to the camera outside.
What the … It was Peter. My landlord.
I hadn’t had many dealings with Peter in person.
I reckoned he was in his early forties. Kind of nondescript, dressed casually but drove a flashy car.
I remembered seeing him pull away from the apartment building in an Aston Martin Vantage.
A neighbor had told me Peter owned a ton of real estate and was super well off.
He’d always been kind and amiable to me.
Though I’d heard he was ruthless when it came to rent.
He didn’t give people many chances. You didn’t pay your rent on time, you were out.
I always paid my rent on time so we never had issues. If there was a maintenance problem with the flat, he’d come to speak to me about it directly if I was home, but that was it.
What the hell was he doing here? And at Fyfe’s?
That instinct that had risen the hair on the back of my neck had me pressing the speaker button on the security system instead of opening the door.
“Peter? It’s Eilidh. What are you doing here?”
“Eilidh, luv, thank goodness I found you. We got a big problem. Didn’t want to take the chance calling you in case my phone was tapped. I know who’s been watching you. Can you let me in?”
My heart thumped hard. “How … how did you know where to find me?”
“I was round your mum’s. Explained everything. She told me where to find you.”
Mum hadn’t called to warn me. And Mum wasn’t home today. She was at the daycare.
Finger trembling, I pressed down the speaker button again. “I’m sorry, Peter. I’m going to have to ask you to leave. Why don’t I meet you at the Gloaming this evening at five o’clock with Fyfe?”
“We don’t have time for that, luv. We’re both in real fucking danger here.” I could hear the edge in his voice. “Please let me in to explain.”
“I’m sorry. I can’t.”
I released the speaker button and stepped back to stare at the door. There were frosted glass panels on either side, and I saw the shadow of his movement. I couldn’t hear anything over the rush of blood in my ears.
I think my body knew before my mind had even caught up.
I’d just turned in search of my phone when a noise blasted through the house. A shattering so loud, it startled Millie out of sleep. Her wails echoed off the walls.
Gasping in fright, I spun toward the front door and saw glass shards from one of the side panels shattered all over the floor. There were pieces at my feet and as my hair fell over my shoulder, I saw tiny shards glisten on the strands.
Pete knocked away bits of glass still stuck to the frame and then squeezed his tall body in through the gap. His once bland, unassuming expression was contorted with furious determination. His dark eyes gleamed with hunger as they dragged down my body and back up again.
“I’ve missed you, luv.”
Millie’s cries tugged me toward her, but as I took a step in her direction, Pete warned, “Go near that baby, and I’ll kill her.”
I froze in horror, gaping at him, trying to make sense of the bizarre turn of events. It was like I’d been drugged and was in the middle of a frightening hallucination. It didn’t seem real. “What’s going on?”
His expression switched so quickly, it was unnerving.
Menace melted to pleading. “I tried to forget you, Eilidh. Once you were gone. I tried so hard that I was stupid enough not to remove the cameras.” He took a step toward me as sick realization dawned.
“I loved watching you.” He spoke calmly, like he wasn’t admitting to violating my privacy.
“I’ve loved watching you from the moment you walked into my life.
For years, it was enough just to watch.”
Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. Limbs trembling, I took a shaky step back toward the kitchen.
For years, this man whom I’d only known as my landlord, whom I’d never suspected of creeping on me, had violated my privacy every day.
“We have to move quickly.” Still, he spoke as if we were talking of everyday things. “I’ve been watching for days, and I know this house is rigged with a security system that will have alerted the kid’s father. We need to leave now.”
“If you think I’m going anywhere with you, you sick fucking bastard, you have another thing coming.
” Because something had flipped in him. Whatever had been holding him back before (probably the access to seeing me whenever he wanted), it no longer existed.
And if I let him take me, I wouldn’t walk away from the situation.
I knew it deep in my bones.
He seemed shocked by my denial. “You belong to me. Even when you let those other men into your bed like a dirty little slut, you always belonged to me. I’m not waiting anymore.”
I glanced at Millie whose cries had decreased to whimpers. She needed me and this bastard was standing in my way. “I will never belong to you. Try to do what you want to me, but do it knowing you will never have me in any way that’s real. You spied on me! Violated me!”
“No.” He shook his head, a madness glinting in his eyes. “I did it because I loved you. I wanted to protect you. You … You don’t understand.” He scowled. “You don’t understand because no one has ever loved you properly until now.”
Rage simmered with my fear. “That’s where you’re wrong.”
Peter rushed me before I could react. He wasn’t overly built, but he was six foot and broad-shouldered. When he threw back his arm and swung it out, his fist clipping my cheek, I had no chance to react or block it.
Pain exploded across my face and knees. Ringing filled my ears, and it took a second for a sense of reality to return. Cheekbone and eye throbbing, I looked up from where I was now sprawled on the floor.
Peter glared down at me. “Now get the fuck up and leave with me.” He strode to Millie’s cot and I cried out, scrambling to my feet. The room spun a little as Pete stood over Fyfe’s daughter. “If you don’t agree to leave right now, I’ll squeeze the life out of the little girl.”
I wasn’t afraid for myself. Only the need to protect Millie filled my brain with a buzzing sound.
Like something had taken over me, I heard the unfamiliar shriek of fury leave my mouth as I ran at Pete.
He wasn’t expecting the attack and so when I reached him, arm swung up, he didn’t block me as I raked my nails down his face and then dug them into his shoulders.
With all my might, I hauled him away from Millie’s cot and tried to hit him in the balls with my knee.
But he was too big and strong. We grappled and I managed to wriggle free, turning toward the kitchen for a weapon.
He grabbed handfuls of my hair and pain screamed up my scalp, my knees giving way.
A hard shove brought me crashing down, my chin jarring off the floor.
Pain ricocheted through my head, but I fought through it as Pete’s hands tugged and clawed at me.
With another roar of outrage, I had just enough strength to turn around.
It was a stupid decision.
The man grew a thousand arms and legs and I found myself pinned beneath his heavy body.
He smelled of a spicy aftershave I knew I’d never be able to smell again without feeling sick to my stomach.
Flashbacks from childhood blurred before me.
Of the man who had hurt Ery and tied me and Lewis up in the annex.
Not again. I wouldn’t be powerless like that again!
“You shouldn’t fight me, luv.” Pete slammed my wrists against the floor and tears of pain pooled in the corners of my eyes.
How many times had Lewis and Callie asked me to train with them over the years? To learn how to defend myself. Aunt Robyn had attempted to show me self-defense maneuvers too. I’d never been interested.
This man, this stranger, peering down at me with a mad light in his eyes, was going to win because I wasn’t physically strong enough to fight.
No.
No!
He wasn’t going to win.
Not powerless.
This bastard had had enough of me.
“No!” I shrieked in his face, making him flinch. Then I bucked and strained and snapped at him with my teeth like an animal. Pete released my wrists to smack me hard across the face again. I’d expected it, I’d wanted it. All so he’d release my hands.
I gritted my teeth against the pain and disorientation, but with my hands freed, I fought my revulsion as I grabbed the appendage between his legs and twisted with all my might.
His bellow of pain shuddered through the house and I clambered out from under him, crawling toward the kitchen.
I was halfway there, his shouts of fury and retribution making me curse my jelly-like limbs. Everything had morphed into agonizing slow motion. The kitchen seemed so far away. Millie’s wailing was like a knife twisting in my heart. She must be so afraid.
Keep moving, keep moving.
A hand clamped around my ankle.
No!
Then a masculine bellow of outrage drew my head toward the entrance.
Relief crashed over me at the men hurrying toward us, and I was sobbing before Fyfe had even reached me.
Walker was at his side, his gun clasped with both hands. Fyfe seemed ready to launch himself at me.
But Walker’s authoritative voice halted everyone. “Release her or I will shoot you.”
I glanced over my shoulder. Pete released my ankle, and I was just about to sag into the floor when he stuck his hand into his inner jacket pocket and pulled out a switchblade. I sucked in a breath, cold shuddering through me as Pete raised his arms, eyes blazing down at me.
A shot rang through the air and Pete jerked. Another shot had the knife slipping from his hand. His mouth gaped open in shock as his entire body fell back onto the hardwood with a dull thud.
“Eilidh!” Fyfe moved toward me.
“Millie!” I cried, gesturing wildly toward her. “Millie first.”
Fyfe’s face paled. “Did he …?”
“No. But she’s scared.”
His hesitance to leave me was obvious.
Walker strode to me, kicking the knife out of Pete’s reach. I could hear his gargled breathing, but I didn’t want to look at him. Walker stood over him, putting his body between us. “I’ve got Eilidh. You see to your daughter.”
The muscle in Fyfe’s jaw clenched, but he hurried over to the cot. I watched him cradle Millie in his arms. Black dots started creeping in on the edge of my vision. “Walk,” I mumbled.
“Eilidh, are you okay?”
“Just … just warning you … I’m about to pass …” The darkness drew me in before I could even remember what it was I’d tried to tell him.