Chapter 26
Fai
The car skidded to a stop, the smell of burning rubber wafting through the dark night. I didn’t care, and neither did Will. We both had one priority: get to Sarah.
When the call came in, I didn’t know what to expect. Sarah and I hadn’t spoken since we parted ways after the flight from Montana. Her calling late in the evening was unexpected; her whispered pleas were even more so.
“Hello?” I had asked, picking up the phone.
Will had looked at me with a raised brow from his seat across the desk.
Jackie was working late, prepping an article for the upcoming issue of the journal.
Will had decided to keep her company but was quickly kicked out of her office, so he’d found refuge in mine.
I couldn’t even remember what we were talking about before the phone rang.
It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered but Sarah.
A whispered tone sounded over the line, but I couldn’t make out the words.
“Sarah? Is that you?” I asked. The call was from her, but she wasn’t speaking. My hackles rose, and Will noticed immediately. He stood and stepped closer, straining to hear her voice through the speaker.
“Fai,” Sarah’s strangled voice sounded, just above a whisper. “Help me.”
I stood quickly, looking around for my keys before remembering I didn’t have a car. “What’s going on? Where are you?”
“He’s here,” she whispered. I looked at Will and mouthed for him to call 911. He nodded and left the office, presumably to find a phone. “Gabriel’s here.”
The world stopped. The fear seeping through her tone would haunt me for the rest of my life—and I was going to fucking kill him for doing this to her. “Are you safe?”
“I don’t know,” she whispered. “I don’t know where he is.”
“Are you hidden? Somewhere he won’t find you until I get there?” I asked.
“Y-yes… please help me, Fai,” she pleaded.
“I will, honey. Okay? I’m coming to you now. I’m only a few minutes away.”
“Please come,” she whispered again, her words strained.
“Nothing will keep me away. I have to hang up, but I’m coming to you now, okay? I’m coming,” I assured her, every muscle in my body taut, straining to get to her. To save her.
“Okay.”
I swallowed hard and hung up the phone, running out of the office and through the door with Will hot on my heels.
“Jackie’s on the phone with the police,” he explained, pointing to his car parked on the street.
We ran to the vehicle, hopping in and peeling away before the doors were even closed. I gripped the dash as Will flew through the streets, breaking every traffic law in existence. I didn’t care—and neither did he.
“What did she say?” he asked, somehow staying calm. I couldn’t be calm. I wanted to scream, to throw things, to hurt someone.
To hurt him.
“Gabriel’s there.”
That’s all I could say. I wouldn't be able to breathe until I saw her with my own eyes—until I knew she was safe.
“Fuck,” Will muttered.
The ten-minute drive, which Will managed in less than five, was the longest five minutes of my life.
Every possibility of what was happening to Sarah rushed through my mind, filling every corner like a flood.
I knew Gabriel was dangerous, but we still didn’t know the extent of it.
Hell, we didn’t even know his real name.
He was capable of anything, and he was alone with Sarah.
My Sarah.
Will skidded to a stop in front of her house, the smell of burning rubber wafting through the night and filling the small cabin of the car.
“Is that…” he started, his eyes glued to the truck parked in Sarah’s driveway.
“Mine?” I asked, throwing the door open. “Yep.”
I was running toward the front door as lights filled the sky, bouncing off the windows. The sound of sirens filled the air as patrol cars pulled up behind us. I heard them yelling at me to stop. I wouldn’t have been shocked if they had guns drawn, assuming I was the intruder, but I didn’t care.
I had to get to her.
“Sarah!” I yelled into the house. The sound of a kettle blared through the air, her living room in disarray. Her glass coffee table was cracked and askew; one of the armchairs lay on its side.
I followed the path of carnage as I called her name. Pictures, books, and shattered glass littered the hallway—some with droplets of blood that I prayed did not belong to her.
“Sarah!” I yelled again, my voice straining. I needed to see her. I needed to know she was okay.
I rounded into her room, passing the splintered doorway where the door had been kicked in. Her dresser was on its side, drawers askew and clothes strewn about. Her mattress was half off the bed, the sheets tangled and thrown across the floor.
“Sarah!” I yelled again, the panic rising. The room was a massacre. One of the windows was wide open, and I ran to it, peering into the night. There was a bloody handprint on the sill, but it was too smudged to tell who it belonged to.
“Sarah!” I yelled out the open window, my voice breaking in desperation. I was moments away from vaulting through the opening when I heard a soft cry.
I whipped around toward the closet doors where the sound had come from.
“Sarah?” I asked more quietly, my voice cracking as my sanity frayed.
I lunged for the doors, throwing them open, and was met with a bat swinging toward my head. With reflexes I didn’t know I possessed, I caught the wood in my grip just as Sarah lunged again, desperately trying to attack.
“Hey!” I shouted, reaching out with my free hand to grab her shoulder. “It’s me, Sarah. It’s me. It’s Fai.”
Her brown eyes met mine, and I saw the exact moment she looked closer, trying to confirm I was telling the truth—that I was truly me. The second it clicked, the second she understood I was there, her strength vanished. She collapsed against me, sobs wracking her body.
The bat fell to the floor with a clatter as she threw herself into my arms. The force nearly shoved me back, but I held my ground. I stood firm as she wrapped her arms around me, burying her face in my chest.
“You came,” she choked out, her body shaking from the adrenaline.
“I told you I would,” I murmured, scanning the room over her shoulder. “Is he in here?”
She shook her head. “I don’t think so. I think he ran out the window. I-I’m not sure.”
The thunder of heavy boots echoed through the house as police officers burst into the bedroom.
“Police! Put your hands up!” one yelled, a flashlight and a service weapon trained on me.
I raised my hands, trying to turn and face them, but Sarah wouldn’t let go, clinging to me for dear life.
“I’m her husband,” I explained, slowly lowering my hands to pull her closer again. “I’m her husband. The guy went out the window.” I motioned toward the opening with my head.
They didn’t question me further. Maybe it was the way Sarah was sobbing in my arms that proved I wasn't the threat. I held her tightly to my chest, and she gripped my shirt as if she were drowning.
“You’re okay,” I whispered, dropping a kiss to the top of her head. “You’re safe now. I’ve got you.”
I would die before I let him touch her again.
“We tracked him into the neighbor’s yard, but his footprints ended there,” a police officer explained.
It had been over an hour since I'd arrived, and Sarah still hadn’t let me go. She now had her hand wrapped in mine, gripping it tightly enough that my hand had lost feeling, but there was no way in hell I was letting go of her. Not now. Not ever.
Will was on the phone, seeing if he could arrange security for Sarah.
Jackie and Goldie were here too, but the police wouldn’t let them in, so they stood on the other side of the police tape.
I could see them through the front windows, standing hand in hand, staring at the house, and waiting for us—for any update.
But there was none.
The police couldn’t find him. Hell, we still had no idea who he was.
“You called the Willow Creek department?” I asked.
He nodded. “They’re sending us what they have. They even offered to send their sheriff down. Any information they have, we’ll have by morning.”
“Good, good.” I glanced at Sarah, who was in a state of shock. The paramedics had checked her out, and she was physically fine. Her mind, however, was a different story. They had given her some anti-anxiety meds when she couldn’t stop crying, but even now, she wasn’t fully here.
“Do you two have somewhere you can stay?” he asked. “This is an active crime scene now. We can’t have you here.”
I scrubbed a hand down my face. There were a million places she could stay; everyone who met her loved her. But I needed to be with her. I couldn’t be away from her again. I knew Goldie would let her stay with us, but there wasn’t much room.
“They have a place,” Will interjected from the dining room, where he was still on the phone. “You two will come with me.”
I was grateful for the offer, but my mind went to Sarah’s safety. I knew Will’s property was as safe as it could be, but if my theory was right, Gabriel would know Will would take her in.
It was never about me. Gabriel didn’t pretend to be my brother to get close to me.
He wanted her.
Based on the file he had, he knew everything about her—including her friendship with Will. Hell, he knew I was staying at Goldie’s; the letter that had started this catastrophe had been sent to her home. We couldn’t go there.
I glanced at Sarah again, knowing I needed to find somewhere for her to go. Somewhere safe. Somewhere Gabriel couldn’t find.
“Will?” I called.
He placed his hand over the receiver and cocked his head, waiting for my question.
“Nate’s pretty off-grid, right?”