TERRA #2
“For legal reasons,” he said at last, “it might be best if I say no more about Viktor Orlov’s fate. But I promise you this—he will never bother you, your mother or your younglings again.”
Terra remembered Cody’s excited claim that the Bull-man had “taken out all the bad guys like a video game,” and suddenly she suspected she didn’t really want the details. It was enough to know that Orlov could never hurt her or her family again.
Relief rushed through her so powerfully that for a moment Terra felt almost dizzy.
It should have bothered her more, she thought distantly—the idea that Taurex had killed a man for her.
She supposed perhaps later it would, once she had enough emotional distance to think about what Taurex’s carefully chosen words implied.
Right now, all she could think about was the text of her children crying in that strange car and Orlov’s message telling her that all she needed to do to get them back was submit.
Orlov would never touch Cody or Lisa again. He would never follow Terra again…never watch her house and never put his hands beneath her skirt while telling her she belonged to him.
Terra felt no grief at the thought—only relief.
She reached across the table and placed one hand on Taurex’s enormous forearm.
“Taurex, I’m so sorry.”
He looked down at her hand, then back at her.
“I was wrong about you,” Terra continued, the words coming faster now that she had started.
“I was frightened and I let everything that happened with Jackson and Orlov and the men at the club get into my head. I treated you like you were the same as they were when you’ve never—” Her throat tightened.
“You’ve never treated me like that. And after what you did today…
I don’t even know how I can thank you. If you want me to, I can—”
Taurex raised one large hand.
“Stop.”
Terra looked at him in surprise.
“What?”
He frowned.
“I do not want you to offer yourself to me in gratitude for your children.”
Her mouth fell open.
“That wasn’t what I—”
“I would be no better than Orlov if I expected you to pay me for their lives with your body,” he said shortly.
“Taurex, I never meant—” she began, wanting to explain. But just then, her phone rang.
The sound startled both of them and Terra looked down at the screen which read, Mom.
Terra immediately felt awful.
“Oh my God! Mom doesn’t know the kids are safe—she must be frantic.”
She answered as fast as she could.
“Mom?”
“Terra!” Lucy’s voice came through the phone already broken by tears. “Are they all right? Please tell me they’re all right!”
“They’re fine,” Terra said quickly. “Mom, they’re safe. I have them both. They’re sitting right here watching television.”
“Oh, thank God!”
Terra heard her mother begin sobbing openly.
“I thought…I thought something had happened. I thought I’d never see them again.”
“I know. I know, Mom. I thought the same thing,” Terra said.
“Please bring my grandbabies home!” Lucy cried. “Please, Terra, my heart can’t take this!”
The words sent a fresh surge of fear through Terra. God, she hadn’t even thought about what this kind of stress might be doing to Lucy, and she already had a heart condition!
“I’m bringing them right now,” she promised. “Mom, sit down. Please sit down and breathe. We’re leaving right now.”
“Hurry,” her mother begged.
“I will. I promise.”
Terra ended the call and looked at Taurex.
“I have to bring the kids home to my mom. She’s freaking out, and with her heart…”
“Of course you do,” he said immediately. “You should go.”
Terra paused for a moment. Part of her expected him to add something like,
We need to talk later. Or maybe, Call me. Or, Come back when your mother is settled.
But Taurex said none of those things. He simply rose from the table and put her now empty tea mug in the sink.
“Come. I will help you gather the younglings,” he rumbled.
Terra followed him into the living room, feeling strangely deflated. SpongeBob was winding down and both children had finished their cookies, leaving only crumbs on the plates and little milk mustaches above their lips.
“Come on, kids,” Terra said. “Nana wants to see you.”
Lisa immediately hopped down from the couch, a worried look on her face.
“Is Nana crying because she missed us?”
“A little,” Terra admitted. The question didn’t surprise her. Lisa had always been extremely empathetic.
Cody stood and looked toward Taurex.
“Can the Bull-man come too?” he asked. “I bet Nana would like to see him, too.”
Terra’s heart gave a painful little twist. She wished she could bring the big Monstrum home with her—he deserved to be thanked for what he had done.
But Taurex shook his head.
“Not this time, youngling. Your grandmother needs to see you and know you are safe.”
Cody looked disappointed but nodded.
“O—kay,” he sighed.
Terra gathered the children and walked with them toward the door.
Taurex followed, opening it for them and standing aside as Cody and Lisa stepped into the foyer.
Terra hesitated for an instant and then she turned back.
“I just can’t thank you enough,” she said. “If there’s anything I can do—anything at all…”
“There is nothing I wish for in repayment,” Taurex interrupted gently. “It is enough for me to know that you and your family are safe.”
Terra swallowed hard.
“All right. Well…thank you,” she said awkwardly.
Taurex inclined his head.
“Goodbye, Terra.”
The finality of the words hit her almost as hard as “Have a beautiful life” had before. He was basically saying they weren’t going to see each other again.
And why would he want to see you again? whispered a mean little voice in her head. You rejected him and hurt him. Why would he take another chance on a single mom with no prospects? He’s richer than God—he could have any woman he wanted. He could have someone young with no kids to worry about.
“Goodbye,” she whispered. Then she followed her children into the elevator.
As the golden doors slid shut, Terra caught one final glimpse of the big Monstrum standing alone in the doorway of the enormous penthouse. He didn’t wave or call after her. He simply watched until the doors closed between them.
Terra should have been nothing but happy—her children were alive, Orlov was gone, and her nightmare was over.
And yet as the elevator carried them downward and Lisa tucked her small hand into Terra’s while Cody leaned against her other side, Terra felt a hollow ache growing beneath the enormous relief in her chest.
She had gotten her children back, but somehow, she had a terrible feeling that she might have lost Taurex for good.