Chapter 49
FORTY-NINE
Cane
I was losing control. All sense of rationality was slipping away.
I heard her get sick and the sound of him hitting her. Each sound ripped through me, and I winced as if I could feel it myself.
My blood boiled with the need to make him—whoever he was—pay and to get to my girl.
If they’re in my office, I could get to the stairs and down the hallway. But there was no way to get Jada with him in the room.
Fuck!
Even if he was after me, he’d kill her in a fucking second. Me not going up there was saving her life. As soon as he realized I was in the house, we were both dead unless I could kill him first. And he was obviously prepared for war.
I just needed a distraction.
Where were the fucking police? Please, Max, please have gotten my text!
The chiming of the doorbell caught my attention, and I heard him move above me.
“Doorbell, bonita? Are you expecting someone?”
I moved quickly to the end of the staircase, realizing that Lucy’s connection may provide the opportunity I needed. The ceiling began to creak as he made his way to the front of the house.
Quickly, I went upstairs, my heart pounding in my chest. I had to get to her while I could.
I had taken my gun off and put it in the glove compartment on my way home and, like a dumbass, hadn’t grabbed it when I got out of the Denali.
What the fuck am I going to do?
I made it to the top of the staircase before pausing, listening for any clues as to where the intruder was. The doorbell chimed again, and I heard the click of his gun in the foyer. I padded quickly down part of the hallway and into my office.
And.
My.
Heart.
Fucking.
Broke.
What had this motherfucker done to her?
I had thought a few times before that if I’d had a heart, it would have cracked. Well, I fucking knew I had one now because I could feel it splintering into fucking tiny jagged pieces. It felt like shrapnel blistering its way, ripping its way, through my chest.
Through my life.
Through my fucking soul.
She sat there so broken, so helpless, and it killed me.
As her eyes began to lift to mine, I knew one thing was for sure.
This was going to fucking end my way.
JADA
My head hung against my chest like weights were tied to my neck, pulling it down. My eyes were so swollen from the hits that I couldn’t see.
I couldn’t even fucking cry.
I just wanted to close my eyes and let go, get respite from the pain.
The scent of cedar and a touch of tobacco caused me to slowly lift my heavy head. I struggled, understanding the urgency but not able to focus on anything. It was all a haze. But I knew he was there! I could sense him like I always could.
I have to find him.
I have to warn him.
He has to know what is going on before it’s too late.
I began to struggle against my bindings again, not nearly as forcefully as I had originally, but with everything I had left in me. I wanted to yell out, but my throat was too raw.
Suddenly, his beautiful face was right in front of me, his breath warm on my face.
“Shh, Jada. I’m here. It’s me, baby.”
I began to struggle harder, trying to tell him the things he needed to know.
Listen to me, dammit.
Tears felt like they were trying to pool in my eyes, but nothing was there. There was no room for even a tear beneath the swollen eyelids.
“Sit still. The police are coming, but he can’t know I’m here. Do you understand? Sit still, Jada.” Cane’s voice was nearly a whisper but stern.
My chest rose and fell quickly. I wanted to grab him, to hold him, to protect him from whatever evil plan the bastard in here had devised.
But I was bound, beaten, and unable to even cry out.
There was only pain. So much pain.
Cane kissed me quickly on the forehead before whispering one final time. “Be still.” Then he stepped out of my sight.
CANE
I stepped back toward my bookshelf and into the shadows. Shit was about to get fucking real, and I didn’t even have a weapon, but I’d use my fucking body as a shield to protect her if I had to.
No more pain would come to my girl as long as I was still breathing.
I heard heavy footsteps crossing the wood floors, making their way down the very same hall I had just come from. They grew louder with each step. I searched for a weapon, something to even out the playing field.
I tucked myself into the side of the bookcase. My eyes made out the shape of the antique sword my grandpa Ben had given me before he died. He had gotten it during a trip with my grandmother to Greece in the 1970s.
Let’s hope this motherfucker has one good battle left in it.
I gave a last look at Jada. Her head was slumped forward, her body only held up by her hands tied behind the back of the chair. I wasn’t sure she was even conscious.
My heart fell briefly before I found my focus.
I grabbed the golden sword, took a few steps to the side, and stood by the doorway, my back pressed hard against the wall, my heart pounding as the footsteps got closer.
Regardless of what happens to me, please let her be okay.
“Someone ordered pizza,” a man’s voice said right outside the door.
“I would like to get it. You and I could have a bite to eat before we end our time together. Aye, if your boyfriend had been fucking home when he was supposed to have been, maybe we could have had dinner before I fuck you and kill you. Too bad.”
I clenched my jaw, gripping the sword with all of my strength, willing myself to shut the fuck up.
His black boots crossed the doorway before his body, head to toe in black. A glimmer from the streetlight hitting the metal of the gun at his side caught my attention.
At least I knew where it was.
“This is taking longer than expected. I am going to have to ask Mr. Powers for a bonus for my time.”
Holding the sword tightly, I took a step forward before twisting and slicing across the man’s abdomen with every bit of fury, rage, and strength I could possibly find.
The blade ripped through his shirt and into his skin, bright red blood oozing out, dripping off the ridge of the blade as it cut across him.
The gun dropped hard against the floor as his hands flew to his stomach. A whooshing sound escaped his throat as all air left his body and he stumbled into the light with his eyes wide.
I took a step forward, and his eyes widened further as they found me. He frantically began patting his stomach, his chest heaving, hands sticky with his own blood.
He stumbled another step farther before falling onto the floor face-first in a heap of his own blood and organs.
I breathed heavily and looked around the room, ensuring there were no accomplices, before landing on Jada. She was struggling against her restraints, her sounds weak and muffled.
I walked across the room, my body shaking with the effects of the adrenaline. Sirens began to come into earshot.
You’re a little too fucking late.
I knelt in front of my girl and set the sword next to me. Her eyes were frantic and swollen so much that I knew she couldn’t see me.
“It’s me, baby. He’s gone,” I said softly.
She began working her mouth up and down, trying to swallow.
“Cane,” was all she could make out. I kissed her forehead before moving behind her. I worked at the ties around her bleeding wrists.
“It’s okay. You don’t have to talk. I’m going to get you out of here.”
“Police! Open the door now.”
“It’s Cane Alexander here. Please come in. Call an ambulance …”
My front door burst open, and I continued to fumble with the ties. A swarm of officers descended upon the room, guns drawn, in police formation.
“The light switch is by the door,” I said, still fumbling with the ties. “An intruder is bleeding to death under the window if you give a fuck.”
The lights came on, and the noise level in the room went up immediately as the scene in the room became apparent. Police began to bark orders to each other.
Everything but Jada fell to the wayside as I freed her hands.
She began to fall forward immediately, and I presumed that the pain and exhaustion were too much for her to hold herself up.
I caught her against my chest, pulling her hair back away from her face.
I could see the pain in her eyes, the green laced with so much agony that it fucking hurt me.
“Sir, I’m going to need you to step back,” an officer said behind me.
“I’m going to need you to shut the fuck up,” I growled, not bothering to turn around.
I looked at my beautiful girl and wrapped her in my arms, holding her close. “Are you okay, baby?”
I smoothed her hair back as an officer unfastened her feet.
“No,” she groaned. “I hurt so much.”
I kissed the top of her head before picking her up and cradling her like a baby.
“Sir, you can’t take her anywhere. An ambulance is coming.”
My eyes flashed to his, causing him to blanch. “I’ll put her in the ambulance myself. But there’s not a chance I’ll be putting her down before then.”
He nodded uncertainly before grabbing the radio on his collar and turning away from us.
“Cane?” Jada muttered against my chest.
“Yeah, baby?”
“Please don’t leave me.”
I squeezed her tighter. “There’s not a chance that will ever happen again.”