Chapter 21 #2
He wanted justice, too. Okay, fine, fuck it. What he wanted was vengeance. Good, old fashioned, I-will-fucking-kill-you-for-what-you-did-to-her vengeance. “I’ll put him in the ground for you.” A simple offer. A quiet promise.
She sucked in a breath. “Victor.” But, rather than look horrified, she stared at him as if he’d just said the sweetest thing in the world to her. “You love me.”
He could not speak. A lump had risen in his throat, choking him.
“You offer to kill for me in the same quiet tone that you use when you offer to whisk me away to Paris.” A faint smile curved her lips and lifted some of the terror from her eyes. “I actually think you would do both if I said yes.”
He would. The truth was that he would do anything she asked.
“All you have to do is say the word.” But, frankly, she did not even have to do that.
He fully intended to kill the prick who’d taken her, no matter what.
That bastard didn’t get to hurt her and then just keep living.
A cage wasn’t good enough for the bastard.
Hunter McQueen wasn’t the only resource that Victor had. He still had his own PIs who were working for him. He’d sent them texts while at the Mage estate, and he’d keep giving out orders about her abductor. He had plenty of money and resources, and he would find the man who’d taken Melody.
When she talked about the attack, she’d said… “He slammed the side of my face and head into the floor. He was so strong.”
Melody had remembered her attacker. He needed to question her more, carefully. Maybe she hadn’t even been fully aware of her words.
She remained in his lap, her body pressed to his, with the comforter pulled over them both. Warm and soft.
“Melody.” With an effort, Victor kept his voice quiet. Calmish. “The man who had you, the one who hurt you…you said you got away from him.”
“I stabbed him.” Her eyes were on Victor as she tilted back her head a bit more.
“He had a knife, and he used it on me, but I got it and I stabbed him.” She wet her lips.
“I aimed for his heart, but I missed. The knife went into his chest, though. I know it did. Slashed down diagonally. He fell back. And I got away. That’s when I ran. I ran and ran and…the car hit me.”
“In Canada.”
A nod.
“You were tied up,” he said.
She twisted a bit in his lap. Her head dipped down as she stared at her wrists. “Yes.”
“Where were you tied up?” Victor didn’t want to scare her. Hell, not more than she already was scared. So he tried to keep his prompting very gentle. “Did you…see anything around you?”
“A cabin.” Slow. Thoughtful. “I was in a cabin. It was dark. Lantern light. So cold in there. A…a hood had been over my head for the longest time. I just saw darkness for so long that I thought I was blind.”
Tied up. Kept with a hood over her head. He had to unclench his teeth. “How did you get to the cabin?”
“I…” She bit her lower lip. “I don’t remember. It was just so dark for so long. I…tight,” Melody suddenly said. “It was tight, and there wasn’t a lot of room, and we were moving and it felt like forever.”
Victor didn’t let his expression change, but it sure sounded to him like she might have been in the trunk of a car.
He’d looked up Hamilton, Ontario, after she’d first mentioned the hospital in that city.
Hamilton wasn’t far from Toronto. From Richmond to Toronto, that was about an eleven-hour drive.
She could have been in the trunk of a car that entire time.
Her abductor would have needed to be careful when sneaking over the border, but, hell, yes, it could be managed.
Her abductor could have taken her from Mage Industries.
Or right after she left Mage. He could have forced her into the trunk of a car.
Then driven out of Richmond as fast as possible.
So by the next day, the day after she’d vanished, when Victor had been ripping the town apart for her, she’d already been in Canada.
Already been stabbed? Been hurt?
In the days that followed, he’d followed BS leads and turned up nothing. While Melody was in some damn coma. Unable to reach out for help. After the Christmas party, Mage Industries had basically been shut down for the holidays. Only a skeleton staff had remained. Everyone had gone their own way.
He’d gotten stonewalled at every turn by the authorities. It’s the holidays. She wanted to get away. There is no crime in that.
Fucking hell, yes, there had been a crime.
He eased out a slow breath. “You said a man hurt you. What did he look like?”
“I—” She stopped. Tilted her head back once more to gaze up at him. Her green eyes held confusion before she blinked. “I don’t know.”
“It’s okay.” Don’t push her. She’s remembering. Be patient. Use care.
“No, no, it’s not okay!” Her voice sharpened. “I don’t know. I don’t know what he looked like. I-I can’t see him. I can see the cabin, in my head. I can see the knife. But I can’t see him.”
“It will come to you,” he tried to soothe. She’d already remembered so much more than before. They were making real progress. “We’ll give it time and—”
Melody jumped from his lap. The comforter fell to the floor.
“I don’t want to give it time. I gave it a whole year!
” Her hand angrily sliced through the air.
“I want to see him and be able to say more to you than just the fact that he was wearing a big, gray coat.” Her eyes widened. “Gray coat,” she repeated. “I…”
Victor rose. “What else, baby?”
“Gray coat. Black boots.” Her hand didn’t slice the air again.
It rose, going over her head. Hovering near Victor’s head.
“That tall,” she whispered. “He was bigger than me. Wide shoulders. Strong. H-he had to be strong…because when he was shoving my head against the wooden floor…” She swallowed.
“Your height. Your build. Big and strong and…” Her head tilted.
“Couldn’t see his face. He had on a—” She broke off and gestured toward her features.
“Covering. Over his head. Most of his face. It went all the way down his neck.”
Even as more tension tightened his muscles, Victor maintained his position near the bed.
“A balaclava? That kind of face mask?” They’d been out in the cold, so a balaclava made sense to him.
He knew they were often used in cold weather.
The material could cover a person’s head, neck, and face.
When she frowned, he pulled out his phone and did a quick search.
Victor turned the phone toward her. “Did the thing over his face look anything like this?”
Her finger curled over the phone. Over his. A soft, hesitant touch even as she nodded quickly, eagerly. “Yes. That’s it. The black one.”
Victor checked the screen. There was no eye covering with the balaclava mask. She would have seen the abductor’s eyes. She’d said there was lantern light, so maybe she’d gotten a glimpse of their color and shape. “What did his eyes look like, sweetheart?”
She blinked. “Me.”
A frown pulled at his lips. “I’m not sure I’m following.”
“I just see me reflected.” She let go of the phone and backed up.
“Not goggles but not sunglasses, either. Sort of both. He shoved open the door to the cabin. He rushed inside, and he came at me with the knife.” Fast words.
“He said he was going to kill me. There would be no going home. Then—then he attacked. But I’d worked the ropes loose.
I jumped out of the chair. The knife sliced me, and I fought and I fought and… ” A ragged exhale.
“You got away.” He tossed the phone onto the nightstand. “You got away, and you found your way back to me.”
She pulled in deep breaths. She’d changed into a black nightgown, a soft, silky one with spaghetti straps and a lacy hem that skimmed her thighs.
He’d seen her wear that nightgown dozens of times.
He’d removed it from her body, dozens of times.
Carefully tugging the delicate straps from her shoulders, letting the silk slide over her and fall into a puddle at her feet.
“I came back to you,” she whispered.
He nodded. Victor closed the distance between them. His hand lifted and curled under her chin. “He spoke to you.”
“S-said he was going to kill me.”
“Not gonna happen.” He’ll be the one who dies. “What did his voice sound like?”
“Hard. Grating.”
“Did you…” Ask. “Did you recognize his voice?”
Her smile was sad. “I have no idea.”
“It’s okay. You are remembering more. The memories are returning.
Tomorrow, we’ll go back to Mage Industries.
” Tomorrow—hell, had they already passed midnight?
He didn’t even know. It was late. That was all he understood.
“The office is closed for the holidays. Only security is there now.” And it was a Sunday.
Wasn’t it? Fuck, he was confused on his days.
“I’ll make sure the security guards know we are coming.
We’ll search, and maybe something else will come to you.
Another piece of the puzzle.” She appeared so uncertain.
He hated that. “We will figure this out. We will find the bastard who took you.” He searched her eyes.
“Do you remember anything else about your life? Other than the attack? Have more memories come back to you?”
A sad shake of her head.
“It’s okay.” He edged ever closer and pressed a kiss to her forehead. His mouth lingered against her skin. She is back. She is safe. “You’ve had one hell of a day, baby,” he murmured against her skin. “You want to try and get more sleep?” He forced himself to step back.
But she shook her head. “I don’t know if I can sleep. Too—too scared. Too hyped up.”
Okay. He nodded. “How about we go down to the kitchen? You used to love hot chocolate.” It had always been her go-to favorite.
“I’ve still got the machine I bought for you last year.
It froths for you.” The frothing had delighted her.
A necessary requirement, she’d called it.
“I even have the hot chocolate mix ready to go.”
“Do…do you drink hot chocolate?”
“Nah. Can’t stand the stuff.”
“But…you have the mix ready to go?”
Yes. “I bought some fresh supplies a few weeks ago.”
Her lower lip trembled. “For me.”
“For you.” He swallowed the lump in his throat and caught her hand. His fingers twined with hers. “Come on, sweetheart. Hot chocolate and some Christmas music always perk you up.”
But when he tugged her hand, she didn’t move. “You know me better than I know myself, don’t you?”
No, he didn’t. Because he hadn’t known that Brant McKee had hurt her. He hadn’t known that she’d started the shelters for abused women and children because of her own past. And he couldn’t help but wonder, what other secrets had she kept from him?
A year ago, Melody hadn’t told him that the detective had come to her and spouted off about Colton Crane. But, apparently, she’d just defended Victor to the cop. Told the detective that she trusted him.
I kept secrets, Melody. Dark truths that I never want you to discover. Because he was afraid that if she discovered the truth that he’d concealed for so long, he would lose her again. Victor wasn’t sure he could survive her loss, not for a second time.
“Did I know you just as well?” Melody asked him. “Before I lost my memories, did I know all of your secrets?”
He stared into her eyes, and he lied, “Yes.” He choked down the lump in his throat. “I swear, you knew everything that mattered.”
Because the dark parts…they didn’t matter. Not any longer. His plans had changed. His life had changed. And maybe, just maybe, she would never, ever need to know the truth about him.