The light above the stove is on when I walk into my apartment. I’m annoyed with myself for leaving it on, but it provides enough dim light for me to kick my heels off and walk through the apartment to shut it off without jamming my knee on a table or chair.
I skirt the butcher-block island in our kitchen and just when I reach up to turn off the light, something not-quite-right registers. I slowly turn to stare at the apple peel, cut in one long, perfect spiral, sitting on a small plate in the middle of the island.
“Cass?” I call out, even though I know it’s not hers. Cass’ idea of cutting an apple involves a tool that slices eight perfect segments in one swoop. She never peels her apples.
I move back around the island, calling Cass’ name again, my gaze on the door. Can I get to it in time? When I take another step, a man’s voice calls casually from the shadows, “Hello, Talia. You didn’t write. You didn’t call. It makes me think you really didn’t care for me at all.”
A revolting chill races up my spine at the sound of that smarmy voice; one I hoped I’d never hear again.
“You’re supposed to be in prison,” I say to the figure with his boots propped up on our tiny table next to a gift fruit basket. I might sound calm, but my insides are like jelly and my hands are shaking so bad that I have to grip the edges of my coat to steady them.
Flipping the light switch next to him, Hayes pulls off the knit cap he’s wearing and stands. “Yeah, well…the Warden and me, we have an arrangement.”
He’s changed so much since I saw him last. His face is fuller and his head is completely shaved, shining under the kitchen light. Crossing his arms, he carries himself with a cocky-edginess, his body bulkier, arm muscles bulging under his T-shirt.
Stomach plummeting, I take a step back toward the island, putting it squarely between us. “What kind of arrangement?” I try to keep him talking, while I surreptitiously look for the knife he used to cut the apple.
Hayes’ leering gaze sweeps over me. “I finally get that fine wine saying. You definitely have gotten better with age, Talia. It’ll make watching the life drain from your eyes that much sweeter.”
As soon as he finishes speaking, Hayes darts to the left of the island, the knife I’d been looking for flashing in his hand.
He might’ve bulked up but he still favors his ankle. I noticed his face twitch when he first stood up. The hesitation in his step gives me time to shuffle to the left as well, keeping the big kitchen piece between us. “Is that what you did? You broke out of prison?”
We skirt two full circles around the island, him pursuing and me keeping to the opposite side each time, before he stops and narrows his gaze. “Nah, right now I’m stuck in medical, all due to this horrible flu going around.” He flashes a smile. “Got to keep up my good behavior so I can get out in eighteen months.”
I knew he was trying to distract me, so when he quickly feigns to the left, only to double back to the right, my heart nearly stops, but I’m ready. I mimic his moves and remain just out of his grasp once more. “Why would he help you sneak out?” I ask at the same time I reach for the plate on the island.
“ ‘Cause his son got in a bit of a bind with drugs a few years back, and he knows I have a score to settle.” Hayes lunges forward, trying to slice me as I grab the dish.
I jerk out of the way just in time, apple peel flying. Smashing the plate over his wrist, I knock the knife from his hand.
Roaring his fury, Hayes grabs hold of the island to keep his balance, and my heart jerks when he notices it shift with his weight. How long will it take him to realize it’s not bolted to the floor?
A couple of knocks sound at the door and we both freeze. “Talia, it’s Nathan. I heard something crash. Are you okay?”
As Nathan talks, I quickly grab the knife from the floor.
“Is that your boyfriend?” Hayes asks in a low voice. When I shake my head, his eyes taper to pleased slits. “I’ve learned that everything out of your mouth is a lie.”
“Run, Nathan!” I yell at the same time Hayes tugs a silencer-tipped handgun from the back of his pants, then pops off two rounds right through the door.
The sound of a thump outside churns my stomach. Oh God. Did he just kill Nathan?
Hayes chuckles and slowly blows his breath over the tip of his gun. “One down,” he says, then pulls something out of his pants’ pocket.
When he lifts up the strand of black pearls Sebastian gave me, and then circles them around the gun, swinging them around, a fierce protective anger erupts inside me. “I will not let you destroy everything in my life.” Screaming my fury, I throw the paring knife as hard as I can, and I’m shocked when it buries to the handle in Hayes’ upper arm.
Bellowing in pain, Hayes drops the gun to grab his arm.
The second his gun hits the floor, I quickly snatch up the pearls, then kick the gun across the kitchen, hoping to give myself time to bolt for the door.
My fingers barely brush the knob when his hard arm snakes around my waist in a bruising hold and my hair is yanked back hard.
“I see you’re still a deceiving little bitch!” he hisses in my ear.
Eyes watering from his painful hold in my hair, I try to claw free of him, but he just laughs and tugs the pearls from my hold.
“It’ll take more than a pig-sticker to put me down. You have no idea the depth of your betrayal, but you soon will,” he says right before he loops the strand of pearls around my neck a couple of times. Releasing my hair, he quickly cinches his arm over the pearls around my neck.
“Here’s a preview of what’s to come,” he rasps as he begins to squeeze. “I’m going to squeeze this neck of yours while I fuck you until you can’t help but come before you pass out.”
I try to suck in air, to hiss my hatred, but I can’t. My throat is closed off and my lungs spasm painfully. He chuckles, delighted by my struggles and my fear as he roughly shoves his other hand inside my dress and down my bra.
“Nice tits. Damn you’ve grown some great curves. Such a fucking waste. I’m going to make you pay for all your sins, Talia. Fuck and choke, fuck and choke. I’ll do it, over and over again. You’ll get what you deserve, and when I’m done, I will make sure you take your last breath.”
I fight to stay conscious, but my vision blurs as his vengeful promises throb in my head like a death knell over and over.
A grunting sound wakes me. My throat burns and my neck and back hurt. I’m in the middle of our kitchen, where the island would normally be, and the butcher-block piece is now up against the table. I try to straighten, but I’m sitting in a kitchen chair, handcuffed to one of the arms, my ankles tied to each chair leg with cooking string.
My heart jerks at the sight of hand-smeared blood on my knees and inner thighs where my dress’ skirt is ruched up. Red stains streak the edge of my coat too and along my legs. I gulp and exhale a quiet sigh of relief when I don’t feel any major pain between my thighs or any other part of my body. The blood must be Hayes’.
I quickly look up as Hayes drags Nathan inside my apartment. Nathan’s not moving or struggling at all. I look back down and bite my lip to hold back the wail that he might be dead.
My gaze lands on the handcuffs, and I blink when I notice some kind of swirled design on each cuff. I turn my wrists slowly so the light hits them just right.
As I stare at the custom engraved R on one cuff and then the engraved B on the other, big fat tears seep out of my eyes. I should’ve just trusted him. I don’t deserve Sebastian. As I bow my head, thinking I brought all this on myself, Sebastian’s words from earlier come back to me.
Never stop fighting, Talia. Your tenacity against all odds is one of your most admirable traits.
I glance up at the hair clip dangling in my hair in front of my face, and my heart jumps. I’ll keep fighting, Sebastian. I lower my hair close to my hands and slip the clip from the strands, then start bending it back and forth until I break off a thin sliver of metal.
Before I can work on the cuffs, Hayes glances my way. “I see you’re awake.” As he laughs and drops Nathan’s limp body on the floor in the living room, I tuck the piece of metal inside my fist. He approaches, his tone jovial, despite the bandage he’s tied around his arm to stop the bleeding.
“Those handcuffs came in handy. Didn’t take you for the kinky type. Hell, you’ll probably get off on being choked. Guess I’ll just beat the shit out of you each time I fuck you instead.” He smiles as if the idea makes him incredibly happy. “I’ll probably have to break the chair to get you into your bed. Couldn’t find the damn keys to the cuffs in your purse.”
When Hayes pulls up a chair to the side of mine and sits down in my periphery, holding his gaze toward the door, I blink at him in surprise. What is he doing?
He sets his gun on the table. “In case you’re wondering. We’re waiting.”
“Waiting for what?”
Hayes rolls his eyes. “Your other boyfriend. The bodyguard.”
A new round of fear crawls in my belly and worms its way into my chest. “What does he have to do with this?”
Hayes waves his hand. “I’m only going to explain it once. We’ll just wait until he comes to rescue you so you can both hear it. It shouldn’t be long now. I’ve made sure your phone is on so he can track it. If he knows his shit, that’s what he’ll do to find you.”
I shake my head. “He’s not looking for me. He thinks he has the stalker, but that’s not true, is it? You’re the one who wrote those last couple of letters, you set that fire in my hotel room, and I’ll bet you’re the one who tried to run me down.”
He gives a slow, mocking clap. “Very good, Talia. I’ve been using your apartment as home base all week. Stupid doorman thinks I’m your neighbor’s secret lover.” Picking up the gun, he points it at me. “Death by fire or by car would’ve been too easy for you anyway. I figured if I couldn’t get you during the tour, I’d just wait for you to come home, where I could take my time inflicting the most pain.”
I’m so thankful for Cass’ work obsession right now. So very thankful. I don’t want to think what he would’ve done to her if she’d been here. “I don’t understand. Why the ruse? Why pretend to care about the book and the tour when your issue with me has nothing to do with it?”
“Answer her. Why the smokescreen?” Sebastian says calmly from the doorway, the laser on his handgun pointed at Hayes’ shoulder since Hayes made sure to keep me in the line of fire.
Without looking away from me, Hayes casually says, “Come in Mr. White, Blake…or whatever the hell name you’re going by today, and shut the door behind you. We’ve been waiting.”
Sebastian quietly shuts the door and moves closer, keeping his gun trained on Hayes. “It’s Sebastian Blake,” he says in a curt tone as he moves forward.
“So are the rumors true that you’re Adam Blake’s bastard?” Hayes asks, eyes glittering with interest.
“I am.”
Hayes laughs at Sebastian’s response, but when Sebastian tries to move to the left slightly, Hayes puts his gun right against my temple and gently rubs my earlobe with his other hand, “Ah, ah. That’s close enough. Now put your gun on the kitchen floor, then slide it over to me and back away.”
“Don’t do it, Sebastia—ow!” I yelp when Hayes yanks hard on my ear.
“It’s okay, Talia,” Sebastian says in a gruff voice as he slowly lowers the gun to the floor.
When Sebastian’s attention snags on the blood on my legs, then his furious gaze snaps to mine, I quickly say, “It’s not mine.”
“It’s my blood,” Hayes grates impatiently. “Your gun, Blake. Now.”
Sliding the gun across the tile to Hayes’ feet, Sebastian glares at Hayes, then stands up once more and takes a step back. “Answer our question. Why all this elaborate bullshit?”
“It’s not bullshit,” Hayes barks out. Grabbing Sebastian’s gun, he holds it up. Pointing it at Sebastian, he says, “Let’s start from the beginning, shall we?” Nudging my temple with his gun, Hayes looks at me. “Pop quiz time, Talia. What was my old lady’s name? Do you remember?”
When I shake my head, he sneers. “Of course you don’t. You just came on to me, told me that you wanted more without a thought beyond your own selfishness. I left Brenna for you that night. For you,” he hisses in my ear. “Only to come back to a blown up apartment.”
Brenna? Why does that name sound familiar? I glance up at Sebastian, my gaze pleading for him not to believe Hayes. “That’s not how it happened.”
“She was thirteen-years-old, you pedo-assfuck, ” Sebastian says, his voice guttural and raw.
“Fuck you!” Hayes’ snaps, then slides a covetous gaze over my hair. “It wasn’t like that. Talia reminded me of Brenna when she was younger.”
“Brenna wasn’t your wife,” Sebastian states, his tone still tight but less antagonizing. “But you had a son together, didn’t you?”
“Ding, ding, ding.” Hayes sits up straighter. “Give the man a star. Our boy’s name was—”
“Tommy—” I cut Hayes off, suddenly feeling as if the floor dropped out from under me. Sebastian’s mention of Brenna connected all the dots in my brain. Favoring one foot over the other, Hayes is the clompy boyfriend Brenna’s building manager described. I can’t believe Tommy is Hayes’ son, but now Hayes’ utter hatred of the book Blindside makes sense. In the book, I painted Tommy as the true madman he was.
“Yes, Tommy. You two are responsible for killing my son!” Hayes glares from Sebastian to me. “You led me on and made me leave Brenna, Talia. God knows Brienna could be a vengeful bitch. I’m sure she didn’t handle my leaving her well, but then I got sent to prison not long after the explosion. My kid had always been a bit off, but he didn’t have a fucking chance against her wrath once I was locked away.”
All the things Tommy said to me—blaming me for how his mother had treated him—flickers through my mind. He didn’t confuse me for his mother. He really believed I was the cause for all his pain. His mother hated and blamed me for Hayes leaving her. I look at Hayes, guilt knocking on my chest. “I didn’t know. I—”
“You took everything from me!” He raises his voice. “My business, my family, my fucking livelihood. Everything. And you,” He glares up at Sebastian. “Stop moving, you son of a bitch. You killed my son.”
“Tommy murdered several women,” Sebastian says in a low, matter-of-fact tone.
Hayes shrugs. “My son might’ve been a nut, but he was all I had. There I was, finally working something good from prison, selling a new drug to rich college kids, and my idiot son had to go and get all obsessed with you, Talia.” Hayes narrows his gaze on me. “What is it about you that makes men lose their goddamn minds?”
“You were behind the drug ring on Talia’s campus?” Sebastian asks, his hands curling into fists, banked fury tracking in his voice.
“Was behind it until Talia went and royally fucked that up for me too. Even though my son swore up and down it wasn’t you, I know you wrote that anonymous article exposing the professor running the ring for me.”
I was right to question that Hayes might’ve been involved in the drug ring back then. I knew that “backward ampersand inside two letters” hand stamp Mina said she and her college roommate looked for to identify who to deliver the drugs to was too similar to what I’d seen when I delivered bags for Hayes.
“And you…” Hayes squeezes Sebastian’s gun’s grip, drawing a red circle target over Sebastian’s heart with his gun’s laser. “You’re going to earn me the payday Talia has denied me twice now.”
Sebastian adopts a cold smile. “I’m not paying you jack shit.”
Hayes barks out a laugh and shakes his head. “Not you. I’m talking about your stepmother. I wonder how much she’ll pay to get rid of you this time?”
“What did you just say?” Sebastian grits out each word very slowly.
This can’t be happening. It can’t be. Is Isabel really responsible for his mother’s death? I remember Hayes talking to Walt about taking on a hit. Holy shit! Was it really for Sebastian? I sense an icy stillness roll off Sebastian, and I chance a glance at him, worry for his state of mind making me feel lightheaded.
Hayes shrugs. “Your stepmother wouldn’t stand for you gracing her doorstep the second your mother died. She wanted you out of the Blake family picture for good. Word got around certain circles to see who’d take the hit on. They wanted a no-name for the job. I needed the money to fund my business, so I took it. I sure as hell didn’t expect your mother to take all the bullets. Lesson learned on using the wrong type of gun for a hit.”
“You’re lying,” Sebastian grates. “The guy who broke into our apartment was thin. He didn’t have your body build.”
“Prison changes people.” Hayes smirks as he taps his gun against my temple. “Tell him what I looked like back then, Talia.”
I raise my eyes to Sebastian, feeling sick to my stomach. “He was thin and had dark brown hair.”
Sebastian holds my gaze for a second, then shakes his head, drilling his gaze into Hayes. “Isabel’s a royal bitch of the first order, but she would never stoop to this, let alone hire the likes of you herself.”
Hayes laughs. “You’re right. She didn’t hire me directly, but when I caught up with the guy she paid to hire me and beat the shit out of him to try and get the rest of my money, he at least told me who contracted the hit and why before I put a bullet in his head. I’m sure Mrs. Blake will gladly hand over the rest of the money now if I finish the job she hired me for. Well, unless she wants word to leak to the news what she did.”
Sebastian walks straight up to Hayes and presses his heart against the gun’s barrel. “You’d better fucking pull the trigger now, because the only way you’re leaving this apartment is in a body bag.”
Hayes snorts at Sebastian’s cold fury. “If that’s the way you want to go out.” He pulls the trigger, and during that split second when nothing happens, right before realization hits Hayes, Sebastian knocks the other gun out of his hand. Lifting Hayes straight out of the chair, he throws him across the room, where he lands on the coffee table with a deafening crash of glass.
While Hayes scrambles to his feet to launch himself at Sebastian with a roar of outrage, I quickly lean forward and try once more to slip the small hairclip piece inside the handcuffs to free myself. This time the cuff pops open. Once I repeat the process on the other cuff, I use the toothy edge of the handcuffs to cut the thin ropes off my ankles.
I dive for Hayes’ gun, since it’s the closest, then roll over and lift the weapon. I’ve never intentionally shot a gun, and as much as I want the man dead for all he’s done to Sebastian and me, my hands are shaking too much. I can’t take a chance that I might accidently kill him instead of maim him. Sebastian needs him to turn in Isabel for his mother’s murder.
Sebastian lands three good punches in a row, but Hayes is like a man possessed. He just doesn’t go down, but instead slams Sebastian with a powerful hit. When Sebastian falls to one knee after Hayes’ last punch, I call his name and slide the gun across the tile floor.
He quickly grabs the gun as Hayes thunders toward him. Lifting his arm, Sebastian pulls the trigger without hesitation, hitting Hayes dead center in the middle of his forehead.
After Hayes falls to the floor, I stumble past Sebastian and stand over Hayes, staring at his sightless expression. As much as I want to kick his thigh and yell at him, telling him what a vile person he is, and that I’m not sorry he’s gone, I swallow all my anger, then walk over to squat next to Nathan. Trying not to look at the blood oozing from the two wounds on his upper arm, I press my fingers to his throat and glance up at Sebastian, hope tightening my throat. “Thank, God. He has a pulse.”
While Sebastian binds Nathan’s wounds with hand towels to slow the bleeding, I call the police and request an ambulance. Once I hang up, I pat Nathan’s curly hair and whisper in his ear, “Hold on, Nathan. Please hold on.”
Releasing a shaky breath, I straighten and meet Sebastian’s gaze as he sets both guns on the end table. “Why didn’t your gun go off?”
He lifts his gun once more, showing me the grip. “It’s a personalized gun, calibrated to my fingerprints. It won’t work if someone else tries to shoot it.”
I nod my understanding, then frown. “Why did you kill Hayes? You could’ve shot him anywhere and taken him down. Now he can’t point the finger to Isabel for your mother’s murder.”
Setting the gun back down, Sebastian cups my jaw. “Hayes has already stolen so much from both of us. I wasn’t taking a chance he could get out again and do even more damage. You mean more to me than anyone, and after what he did to you in the past…” He pauses and exhales sharply, trying to remain calm. “I should’ve emptied the clip into him in non-fatal places first, then taken him out.”
“But it’s not right that Isabel will get away with—”
“My mother’s killer is dead, Talia,” he snaps.
The door bursts open and Den rushes in, his gun pulled. Sebastian calmly tells him, “We’re all good here, Den.”
Den looks at me. “You okay?” When I nod, he lowers his gun and glances Sebastian’s way, his gaze apologetic. “The sleet caused a pile up. I would’ve been here sooner.”
“Can you wait downstairs for the ambulance and escort the EMTs up?” Sebastian asks.
When Den leaves, closing the door behind him, Sebastian slides his thumb down the side of my throat, his tender touch softening the harsh edge of his last comment. “I’ll deal with Isabel. For now, all that matters is that you’re safe.”
I sigh, somewhat appeased. “When did you figure out that Paige wasn’t my stalker?”
“The fact that last letter had your perfume on it kept bothering me. As soon as I learned Paige had an alibi for the fire, I left. That letter wasn’t from her, which meant someone else had to have access to your perfume.” Shaking his head, he exhales. “Paige still stalked you, Talia. Only it was for an entirely different reason. She sent those first letters because she wanted to make you edgy and nervous, like she felt. Then she tried to discredit you.”
I twist my lips. “Jared told me someone dropped a note about my past on his plate while he was standing there talking to Nathan at the kick off party.”
Sebastian shrugs. “Ultimately, her actions all boiled down to her trying to figure out what made you tick and what it would take to make Nathan give you up.”
Shaking my head, I exhale slowly. “Did you ping my phone to know I was here?”
He nods. “On my way here to check out your apartment, I got Connelly to ping your phone after you didn’t respond to my texts. Turns out Dwight Tucker had been Hayes’ cellmate. I thought I was coming here to protect you from Dwight and that Hayes had sent him after you. The last person I expected to see was Hayes himself, since he was supposedly in jail.”
I shudder, thinking about my close call with Hayes. “He had something on the Warden and was allowed to sneak out to seek his revenge.”
Sebastian’s jaw tightens. “We need to make sure the authorities know about the Warden.” Pushing my hair back from my face, he continues, “When the ambulance comes for Nathan and after the police do their thing, I’d like you to come home with me, Talia.”
I tuck my hair behind my ear, wondering where we are. “Once I know Nathan’s going to be okay, I’ll come. It might not be tonight.”
Sebastian glances down at Nathan, then meets my gaze. “Then I’ll wait with you, because I wasn’t just talking about tonight.”