Chapter 44
Wren
“What happened to you?” I ask Elias, voice muffled from the old t-shirt pressed against my bleeding nose. It doesn’t feel broken, but the blood continues to pour.
He drives like nothing’s wrong, like he didn’t punch me in the face and kidnap me.
The only tell that he’s panicking is the grip he has on the wheel.
His knuckles are nearly white. I observe the man I once knew.
A ragged, uneven beard covers his once clean-shaven face.
Dark circles line his under-eyes. His skin appears sickly, as if he hasn’t had a warm meal in weeks.
The man sitting to my left is a far cry from the man I left behind.
The finale of the firework show is taking place in my side mirror. In the town I’ve fallen in love with all over again, with people lined along the lake shore, celebrating America and freedom while I’m trapped in a vehicle with a monster I had planned on marrying.
I hope by now Jett realizes I’m gone. I can’t believe how stupid I was to go searching for him alone. Outside, of all places.
“Elias,” I snap, and his shoulders flinch, almost as if he forgot I was bleeding in the seat next to him. “Where are you taking me?”
“Detroit.”
My eyebrows furrow. “Detroit?”
“Yes,” he bites out. “Then a flight home, princess. We have a wedding to attend.”
The man is delusional if he thinks I’m getting on an airplane, let alone marrying him. I’d rather die than be tied to a monster the rest of my life. Not when I know what true love feels like and the real promise of tomorrow.
But I won’t fight him, not now.
“Do you remember the first fall we were dating? How you would pack a picnic for us every Wednesday?”
The steering wheel jerks left before he corrects it, breath hitching like the question sucked the air from his lungs.
“What?” His voice is sharp. A look of confusion passes across his face.
“Each week, you made a point to have wine and dinner on the beach as we watched the sunset.”
Silence stretches as he glances from the road to me.
“One week, you grabbed a white chocolate raspberry cheesecake from a bakery near a house you were showing. I loved that cheesecake.”
“I bought one every week,” he supplies.
Relief flickers through me. The danger hasn’t subsided, but maybe I can keep him calm until help arrives.
“You’d wrap me in your arms, a blanket stretched over us as we watched people surf. The sun would set quickly, but we didn’t care.”
I almost smile.
“You were in my arms, princess, what else mattered?”
Gone is the urge to smile as I fight the urge to shiver. I hate that nickname. It used to make me feel special, like I’d found my Prince Charming. Too bad it quickly morphed into a warning. The disdain in his voice whenever he hissed a threat or apologized after one of his “episodes.”
I stare out the window as fields of corn and soybeans pass by in a blur. The world feels too dark as we drive farther away. In the distance, I swear I can hear sirens, but it’s wishful thinking.
“Why get married now?” The question slips without thought.
“Because I love you, princess, and we need to show the network we’re happy together.”
“Why would they care?”
His head whips in my direction. “Your lawyer is causing a scene with false accusations that my dad is starting to believe.”
I scoff. “What’s false about how you treated me, Elias?”
Once again, his knuckles turn white from gripping the steering wheel. “I can’t believe you ran back to him. After everything he did to you.”
“After everything he did to me? What about what you’ve done to me?”
“I made you everything you are!” he roars, and I flinch. “But you were just a greedy whore who ran back to that piece of shit. How could you let him touch you? You let him touch what was mine. You let him fuck you on the stairs like a whore!”
I want to throw up. Bile builds in my throat, and I will it away. He watched us in an intimate moment, lurking in the shadows.
Anger and fear spike as my blood boils at my predicament. How could I have frozen in place? I didn’t even try to fight back. Everyone always tells themselves if put in a situation, they would fight, but no one warns you about terror freezing you in its place.
“You were good back then. Kind, gentle, sweet.” My voice cracks a little as anger seeps in.
Elias’s arms twitch. The air shifts, thickening as tension coils. I ruined the memory with the cold, hard facts.
“Don’t,” he snaps.
“Don’t what, Elias? Call you out? Because you used to be a good man.” I eye him up and down, tsking at what he’s allowed himself to become. “What happened to you? How did you become this way?”
His laugh is humorless. Ugly.
“You.”
“Me?”
“You ruined everything, you selfish bitch,” he seethes, voice rising. “You embarrassed me.”
I swallow roughly. “I wasn’t the abuser.”
A sharp, stinging thwack echoes in the van as the force of his backhand rocks my head to the side. My cheek heats with pain from a hit I didn’t see coming.
“You let your lawyer dig where he didn’t fucking belong.”
I feel my face pale. I’ll be lucky to make it to the airport at this point.
“The network didn’t like it,” he sneers. “Even though I told them it was bullshit. But they didn't believe me. Neither did my dad. They’re calling it an extended vacation…while they investigate me.”
He spits the words.
My fingers tremble as I tighten my hands into fists to try to control the shaking, grateful my nose quit bleeding, but needing to keep my hands busy.
I glance out my window, and my breath catches.
As subtly as I can, I tip my head backward, wondering if I saw what I think I did.
A cruiser parked with its lights off, facing the state route we’re on.
Please, I beg silently. Please see us. Please call it in.
“You think I wouldn’t find you?” He’s unraveling now. “Of course, you’d run to your piece-of-shit small town. How predictable and stupid of you to think I wouldn’t find you?”
“Of course, I ran. You beat me constantly.”
This time, I see the hit coming. I dodge my head in time to miss the force of his hand.
Elias curses, punching the steering wheel.
“Shut up, you stupid bitch. You don’t get to rewrite history.”
“It’s not rewriting when it’s the truth. Wake up.”
Headlights beam, filling the cabin as red and blue flashing lights pour in. Tears swell in my eyes as relief pumps through my veins. I feel my shoulders sag as my arms relax.
“Pull over,” I demand, voice shaking. “It’s over, Elias. You lost.”
He turns to me, eyes wide and wild as shadows and flashing lights paint his face almost demoniacally. And then he presses harder on the gas.
“I’m not losing you,” he promises, and my stomach twists. “You’re mine.”
The siren blares louder as it gets closer to our bumper.
And for the first time, I watch as real fear flickers across his face. For once, it’s him, not me. No matter what happens, I know someone tried to save me. And that’s all that matters.
Headlights greet us as we go around a curve. More red and blue lights streak against the night sky. Another cruiser appears. Then another.
They’re boxing us in from both directions.
“You can’t outrun this. Pull over.”
The thudding chop of blades slices the air as a spotlight is placed on the van, illuminating the fields around us.
“Oh my god,” I whisper. “Look”—I point ahead, trembling—“it’s over.”
The road is blocked with cruisers parked in angles as officers spill out, weapons drawn.
My pulse beats against my ribs as I’m hit with another wave of dread. They won’t fire at us, right?
As the van begins to slow, because there’s nowhere else for him to go, I decide I can’t risk it. I refuse to be shot because of him.
Elias digs in his door, shifting us into the berm, still at a steady speed. When he pulls his hand back to his lap, metal gleams against the light. My ears ring as my vision tunnels.
“You can’t shoot yourself out of this?” I taunt. “Do you think this will end well?”
His eyes flick to mine, and I no longer recognize the man beside me. He’s long gone to the demons that haunt him.
The van crawls forward, nearly stopped. I don’t think as I shove open my passenger door and throw myself out.
In the distance, I hear my name shouted as the world tilts. Sky, asphalt, and grass spin in circles as I land on my hands and knees. Pain tears through my limbs as I tumble into a ditch. My head pounds violently as the sound of brakes fills the quiet air.
“Show me your hands,” I hear my brother shout. “Elias Hearst, get out of the vehicle with your hands in the air.”
I gasp for air. The pain ricochets in every direction as I push myself to my feet. This isn’t where my story ends.
“Wren, baby! I’m here!”
Tears flood my vision as everything blurs. He’s here. Jett came for me.
Stumbling, I turn, and there he is, running toward me like the world is ending.
And it was. Without Jett, there’s no world worth living in.
I’ve known he was it for me since I was barely a teen and I asked him to marry me.
In all of our years, he’s protected me. Defended me.
Taught me how to embrace who I am and not let anyone tell me different.
Time and time again, he’s shown up when I needed him the most.
“Jett,” I try to shout back, but it comes out as more of a groan.
I block out everything around me. The armed officers with guns pointed in my direction. My lunatic, ex-fiancé. All I see is Jett.
“I’ve got you, Whiskey.”
His eyes lock onto mine. Those beautiful, tranquil pools reflect everything I feel. Relief. Fear. And above all else, love.
“Don’t!” a voice shouts, but I don’t stop.
Everything blurs together as commands ring out, my brother’s voice booms, someone shouts and then another, but all I see is Jett running toward me.
It’s reckless, both of us running with the surrounding chaos, but I need his arms around me.
Suddenly, something changes in his expression. His gaze flicks over my shoulder. I refuse to look backwards, not when my future is in front of me.
But I don’t need to look to understand what’s happening.
It’s in the way the air shifts as if time is standing still. The way Jett’s body coils in tension as he pumps his arms faster.
In the distance, I hear Elias’s voice feral with unhinged threats. “No one gets what’s mine.”
A deafening crack splits the night, jolting my senses, and leaving silence in its wake.
Jett lunges toward me, hands slamming into me hard, and I’m yanked backward. The force of him leaves me unstable as the ground shifts beneath my feet. His arms wrap around me. The strength of his hold feels like home, like we’re lying in bed watching the sunrise.
We fall together, his body twisting as we land on the punishing ground. His weight is crushing as I feel his heartbeat against my chest, pumping wildly. His hand cradles the back of my head, pressing me into his shoulder as hot, white light explodes behind my eyes.
The last thing I feel is him.
His breath against my ear, grip tightening as if he refuses to let go…
As the world fades.