Chapter 4
I watch in horror as the van goes hood-first into the tall chain link fence outside of one of the many warehouses along the road. After I pulled over and found Rhyann”s nearly empty purse on the side of the road, I got back in my car to see the blue dot still moving. Which meant she is in that van, and her phone is with her.
I slam on my brakes, not caring if there might be someone behind me, and throw the car into park. A large figure squeezes out of the driver side of the van. They’re dressed in all black as they limp away from the scene. I fight the urge to chase after him and shove my fist down his throat and yank his heart out. I have to find Rhyann. I have to make sure she’s okay.
With the headlights glaring behind me and straight at the back of the wrecked van, I rush over and pry the doors open.
“Fuuuck you!” A petite shadowed figure bolts for me, their hand raised with a shining metal tool in their clenched fist.
“Princess it’s me,” I blurt out as Rhyann lunges for me, swinging the heavy wrench at my face. Her hair is mussed, a stretched ring of gray duct tape sticks to one of her wrists, but other than the crazed look in her eyes, at first glance she seems otherwise fine.
“Dev?” Rhyann drops the wrench and sinking to her knees on the edge of the van, she all but collapses into my arm. Her body shakes as I cradle her tightly to my chest. “Oh my god.”
“Shh, it’s okay.” I slip one arm under her legs and, with the other holding her tightly to my chest, I carry her to the Jeep. Once I’m sure she’s securely settled into the passenger seat, I close the door and walk over to the driver side.
Rather than call my brother, he’s got his own shit show going on, I call the local detectives and tell them everything that just happened. I’m told to stay there until a unit can arrive to assess the scene and then to bring Rhyann straight to the same hospital that Tate has been taken to. They’d like to have her examined and then ask her a few questions. I roll my eyes at that last bit added in before we hang up.
The local uniformed units arrive on the scene within a few minutes of ending the call with the detectives. Rhyann and I both give our accounts of the events on the road, and I point the officers in the direction the driver went when he ran. The uniformed officers dismiss us with a nod and let me know they’ll be in touch if they have more questions.
I hate hospitals, the silence, the sterile scent throughout the entire place, the ominous feeling looming over every inch of the place. It makes my stomach turn. But here I am, once again —after barely escaping another kidnapping— at the same hospital Tate took me to not that long ago. Except, rather than take me through the E.R. we head straight for the private suites on the seventh floor.
“I don’t want to be here,” I say mostly to myself.
“I know,” is all Devon says, but when he takes my hand in his as we walk down the quiet hallway, I feel a little less like the frightened girl and more like the woman that I am. The same woman who was ready to die fighting an hour ago.
“Why didn’t we go through the emergency room like last time?” I ask.
“Yeah, about that,” Devon stops in the hall a few feet from the nurses station for this ward. “After we found out you were missing, I went looking for you,”
“Yeah, You still have to explain how you were able to find me.” My hands automatically go up to my hips. He refused to answer any questions on the drive here. He just kept saying all that mattered was he got there in time.
“Liam and Tate were going to meet up at the apartment, and then go looking for you together after Tate took Aubree home.” I bristle at the mention of that fake bitches name. “Anyway, Tate got to the apartment and thought Liam was home, but it wasn’t him.” Devon says, taking my hand back.
His words sink in slowly, “Oh god, Dev. What happened to Liam?” I ask, the same panic I felt waking up in the back of that van creeps back into my bones.
“Liam is fine, Tate was stabbed when the intruder realized he’d been caught,” Devon admits softly.
“Oh god,” I gasp and take off running down the hall. The sounds of my heels clicking rapidly against the mirror like tiles echoing through the halls. I don’t know where I’m going, but I follow the corridor and turn left when I get to the end of the hall.
Devon has no problem catching up to me, and he grips my elbow skidding me to a dead stop against his chest.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Devon growls low into my ear.
“Where is he, Devon?” I ask, choking down a sob.
“Right down there,” he points ahead of us, and that’s when I notice the two uniformed officers stationed outside the last door on the left. “We’ll go in together. The two douchebag detectives are in there waiting for us too.”
“Who stabbed him?” I ask as Devon wraps me in his arms, I can’t help the tears as the gravity of the night’s events hit me. I can’t keep the tears at bay any longer, and wrapped in Dev’s arms, cocooned in his scent, I let the tears fall.