Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
Cara kept her eyes closed and her body limp, using her senses.
She lay on a hard wooden floor, the cold seeping through her clothes to chill her body.
Her wrists were restrained, the bindings digging into her tender skin, but she felt nothing at her feet.
The room reeked of mold and mildew, a place that obviously hadn’t been cleaned in a while.
Yet she could hear the sounds of the waves crashing against the shore.
She was still on the island, and even better, near the beach.
She could find her way back to Coop, if she could just get out of this.
All she needed was for him to make one wrong move and she’d escape.
She peeked through her eyelashes, not ready to let on that she was conscious. The room was dark. The only light was from the moonlight peeking through the windows, casting a glow on the hard floor.
“I know you’re awake.” Phillip’s voice drifted to her ears. “I can tell by your breathing.”
His heavy footsteps neared, and black combat boots appeared in her vision.
Material crinkled, and she opened her eyes to find that he’d squatted in front of her.
Phillip ran the cold, hard barrel of the gun down her tear-stained cheek, eliciting a shiver down her body. She struggled against her binds.
“He’s going to find you, and he’s going to kill you.” She spat the words into his face.
He swiped it away and shoved the gun into her chest. “Not before I’m finished with you.” He ripped open her shirt and ran the gun between her breasts. The metal was cold on her skin and her chest heaved.
I’m going to die. The gun lowered over her stomach, where he shoved the barrel into her belly button.
“He should have been more careful with the condom.” Phillip looked at her with cold-blooded eyes as a sneer lifted his lips.
He slipped a knife from his pocket and flicked it open.
Moving the knife over the exact spot the gun had just been.
The sharp blade pressed against her stomach, making her afraid to move, afraid to breathe.
The sharp end pressed deeper into her skin. A trickle of blood ran over her abdomen. Anger and fear drained her hope to escape.
“Please don’t. I’m begging you,” she whispered.
His smile grew, and he licked his lips as the knife moved up her body, stopping at her chest. He leaned into her and licked a path up her cheek.
“I’m not going to kill you….yet.” He slammed the knife into the skin above her breast. She screamed. The pain seared through her like a red-hot poker. Dots claimed her vision as he pulled the knife free.
Cara’s tear-filled eyes narrowed, and she did the only thing she could.
She smashed her forehead against his. The move sent him reeling onto his ass and made stars dance in her eyes.
The gun he’d once held flew beneath a coffee table, the knife just out of reach.
She scrambled for it and got to her feet, holding the knife in front of her bound hands, using it as a shield.
Phillip stilled on the ground, and his hands roamed the floor around him, probably in search of his gun. “You won’t get far, Cara, and when I find you, I’m going to fill you full of holes. You won’t live to disgust anyone else.”
Phillip dropped his gaze and frantically looked for the gun. Cara turned and ran. The door was locked and bolted into place. She glanced over her shoulder to find that Phillip was reaching for the gun.
Her heart raced as she took off for the stairs, trying to put as much distance between a bullet and herself as she could.
There were only two doors at the top of the stairs, both open; one was a bathroom and the other a bedroom.
She hurried into the bedroom and slammed the door closed, twisting the lock.
Her gaze ran over the bedroom furniture.
Under the bed would have her trapped and unable to fight back.
The window was partially open. She didn’t have time to cut through her bonds and climb out the window.
She was stuck with nowhere to go, and only a knife to keep her alive.
She moved into the closet and stepped inside the darkened space, easing the door shut.
“Cara,” Phillip called out. “There’s nowhere to run.”
Tears streamed down her face as her body trembled. Goosebumps covered her arms as a hand appeared from nowhere and covered her mouth. A hard, familiar body pressed against her back.
“I’ve got you,” Coop whispered in her ear and lifted his hand.
“Why were you in the closet?”
“I wanted to have the element of surprise. I heard someone running upstairs.” He took the knife and sliced through the rope around her wrists and moved her body behind him.
Relief flooded her system as Cooper aimed his gun at the closed door.
“How did you find me?” She couldn’t stop the trembles in her fingers as she held on to his hip on one side while holding the knife in her other hand.
“Luck,” he answered.
“I know you’re in here,” Phillip called out.
Coop held the gun with both hands and aimed it at the door.
The knob of the closet door turned, making Cara gasp.
“I can hear you,” Phillip spoke as the door swung open.
Coop pulled the trigger.
He never missed a target. One bullet through the head.
Phillip was lying broken and dead on the floor as Coop pulled Cara against his chest and eased her out of the room and over the body.
He sat her on the bed and clicked the comm in his ear.
“I’ve got her. Second floor. She’s hurt. Call EMS and the coroner’s office.”
Howard came bursting through the door with a phone pressed against his ear. “We need an ambulance. Female, age thirty-two, looks like a knife wound to the chest.” Howard glanced to the opposite side of the room. “The assailant is dead.”
Howard shook his head. “No, I don’t know the address. Shit.” Howard cursed as he left the room.
Coop pulled the shirt over his head and sat next to her, pressing the fabric into her wound. She looked dazed, as if the pressure and pain were making the room spin around her.
“Cara, stay with me.”
She shook her head as her eyes slipped closed.
Coop carried Cara, cradled against his chest, down the stairs, refusing to lay her down. He held her until the ambulance arrived and carried her inside, placing her on the gurney.
He kept touching her, afraid if he stopped and she woke, she’d get visions of the paramedics working to access the damage.
The paramedics were asking him questions about allergies and her medical history, none of which he knew.
When they asked if she might be pregnant, that question made him pause. “Possibly.”
He’d never considered having children, maybe because he’d never met the right woman. Coop’s gaze caressed Cara. Coop had caused his own damage to her that needed repair. One problem at a time.