CHAPTER 20
I still can’t believe it. Not only am I engaged to be married, but our baby is growing inside my body. Once Axel was over his shock, we spent the rest of the day in bed, celebrating as he said. I can’t say no to him. He is over the moon, and I want that closeness only he can give me. We fell asleep well after midnight, his arm draped over my stomach, holding my belly with his large hand.
My phone starts buzzing the next morning, reminding me that I set my alarm so I could get up and over to Dee’s before it got too late. Axel and I have plans to go to dinner tonight and celebrate—with clothes on this time.
I lift Axel’s arm off my belly and walk across the room to the bathroom. Pausing to look over at his sleeping form, I see that the dark sheets are riding low on his naked hips. He has one arm over his abdomen and the other stretches out under my pillow. The desire to crawl back in bed and cuddle close is strong, but I need to hurry so I can make my plans with Dee and be home early enough for dinner. Once Dee and I get talking, I know I won’t be home anytime soon.
I pull on my favorite pair of black leggings and an oversized knit sweater. Grabbing my black boots, I walk out of the closet and almost collide with Axel. I look him over from head to rock-hard dick to toe. Good enough to eat.
“You’re killing me, Ax! You know I have to get going before Dee starts knocking the doors down here. It should be illegal for you to look that good in the morning.” I brush my hand down his stomach and grab ahold of his dick, stroking him lightly a few times. “I love how hard you are for me.” I kiss the corner of his lips and step away before he can grab me.
A low rumble sounds from his lips. “You remember this moment tonight when you’re begging me to let you come. Going to keep you right on the edge for hours. Hours, baby.” He swats my butt before walking into the bathroom and turning on the shower. “Call me when you get there!” he yells over the spray of the shower.
“Will do. Love you!”
My phone rings on the way over to Dee’s house. I answer and press speaker before placing the phone back down. “Hey, you! Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas, baby girl.” Greg’s deep voice comes through the line. “Missed you yesterday.”
I feel a little bad about closing our friends out yesterday, but with it being our first Christmas back together, plus one that was so full of special moments for us as a couple, it didn’t feel right to open it up for everyone.
“I know, G. I missed you, too. I’m on the way over to Dee’s house now if you want to come meet us for lunch. I’ve got your gifts in the car. Plus, I’ve got some news for you.” I smile when the line goes silent. I know Greg. Right now he is probably picturing every kind of ‘news’ I could possibly have for him. He might correctly guess one, but there is no way he would guess them both.
“Wouldn’t miss it, baby girl. I got some work to finish up before I head over. Give you and Dee some time to do your thing.”
“Sounds good. I’m glad I get to see you today. I was just telling Ax last night that we needed to have y’all over for dinner.”
“Something tells me Reid didn’t want to share your time, right?”
“Ah . . . something like that.” I laugh, and we continue with the small talk before hanging up.
I try calling Dee to let her know Greg is coming but she doesn’t answer. I brush off the flicker of worry that floats across my skin. Knowing Dee, she is still in the bathroom with the music cranked up to ungodly levels while she gets ready.
I pull up into the driveway of my old home with Dee and climb out. It is a beautiful morning. The sky is clear and blue, and the winter chill is blowing softly. There was talk of snow this weekend, but knowing Georgia weather, it would change a few times before the weekend hit and there would be no snow. My hair flies around my head when a strong gust hits my face, causing me to shiver. Pulling my coat tighter to my body, I walk to the back of my car.
I gather all the gifts I have for Dee, leaving some for Greg to get later. My hands are full enough with the things I have for Dee.
Walking up the small walkway, I pause to pull my keys out of my pocket. If she were up, she would have already come running out the door like a cheerleader on crack. I drop a few of the packages in my arms before I am able to pull my keys out of my waistband. Shit! I forgot to call Axel. Pulling my phone up, I press his name and wait for it to start ringing as I push my key in the lock. It clicks, but before I can open the door, it swings wide and I meet the disturbing brown eyes of my ex-husband.
“Hey, Princess,” I hear coming through the line.
Brandon smiles his cold and evil smile.
“You there?” I hear calling from far off. My body is frozen in terror.
“Hello there, Isabelle,” Brandon says. There is so much control in those three words, but they are heavily laced with menace.
All of the packages fall from my arms, joining my phone on the front steps.
“Izzy!” I hear right before Brandon reaches up and slams his fist into my temple, causing the world around me to fade into black.
God! Why does my head hurt? Shit. I roll over but stop when my head starts to pound. Why don’t I remember what happened?
“Ah, Isabelle. Glad you could join us.”
My eyes snap open and I look around Dee’s living room. It all comes rushing back, and my blood turns to ice when I look up and see Brandon standing over Dee. He’s got her arms tied behind her back and a piece of tape slapped over her lips. Her eyes are wide and terrified. I can already see a bruise forming around her cheek and her hair is pulled to the side of her ponytail.
She tries to stay strong but there are dried tear tracks all over her face.
“This little bitch was nice enough to invite me in. Nice to know her manners aren’t lacking. I was just asking her a few questions about my lovely wife when you drove up. Thank you, Isabelle, for making it so easy to find you.” He shakes his head back and forth and begins pacing in a tight line behind Dee. I move my eyes from his face to hers and check on her again. I can see her pleading with me not to do anything stupid. Her eyes are wide and she keeps shaking her head softly.
“Your little boyfriend has been causing some trouble, Isabelle. I warned you what would happen if he didn’t back off. I wonder how long it will take that motherfucker to come riding to the rescue, hmm?”
His pacing continues, and when Dee lets out a soft whimper, his hand shoots out and backhands her hard across the face. She falls back off the couch and doesn’t move.
That was all it took to snap me out of my shock. “You bastard!” I scream and go to move from my spot on the floor but stop short when he trains a gun on me.
“Oh no, I wouldn’t do anything rash. My dear wife seems to have forgotten her place in the world. We can’t have that now, can we? You sit the fuck down and shut up, you stupid whore.”
I pause in my motion but quickly scan the room. There has to be another way. I won’t let him win. He controlled me for too long and I am finally happy. Fate is finally on MY side. I steady my resolve and straighten my spine. I will win.
I go to get up again when he walks quickly over to me and grabs me by my loose hair. He bends down and brings his face right up to mine. His words are harsh and he spits all over my face when he speaks.
“You little slut. You think you can run around spreading your legs for another man. You are mine! Do you hear me, Isabelle? I won’t let that bastard touch what is MINE!” he screams. My hair feels as if it is being ripped from the roots when he begins to pull me to my feet.
“Please, Brandon. Please leave us alone. What do you want? Money? I can get you plenty. Please leave,” I beg. My only thought is getting free and getting Dee and my baby safe from his insanity.
He swings his wild eyes on me and throws his head back. The sound that comes out is animalistic and has me scared out of my mind. The chill of dread rocks through my body, all the way to my bones.
“You think I’m going to let him have you? Oh no, Isabelle. What you need to understand is that you will never get rid of me. He thinks he can take you from me? He can try, but he will be swimming through a sea of bullets before I let him get those vile hands on MY WIFE!”
I can see the control in his eyes snap and it’s like watching a light go out. This is not my ex-husband. The irrational madness has taken over any common sense and chance of reason I could have made with him.
“I’m going to make him watch you when I bend you over my knee and punish you for all the shit you have caused. I’m going to rip your clothes from your body and make him watch me take you for all the shit HE caused. That’s right,” he says when my eyes widen. “You think I don’t know it was him who had the police barking at my heels? And then do you know what will happen next?” He doesn’t even blink when he pauses. That malevolent smile forms and his face is transformed from his normal somewhat handsome look to one of pure evil. “Then I’m going to put a bullet through your fucking heart while he watches. While he is helpless to stop me.”
Even with the fear coursing through my body, I know I have to get away from him. He’s blocking the hallway to the front door but not the one off to the kitchen. It’s risky, but I might be able to get away quickly enough to hide. I know Axel is coming and that has me more afraid than the madman standing in front of me with a gun.
A low moan sounds from the couch and I see Dee start to stir. Shit! I can’t leave Dee.
“Why, Brandon?” I ask, hoping to distract him from Dee. I have to keep him focused on me.
“Why? Because that motherfucker ruined everything! I was finally going to have it all and he had to ruin it all! I won’t let him take you too! YOU ARE MINE!” he screams. He brings his hand up and starts pulling at his hair, and banging the handle of the gun against his forehead before leveling it back on Dee.
He’s completely lost it. There isn’t an ounce of humanity left in this man.
His pacing continues. He moves slightly from the open hallway but he doesn’t move his gun from Dee’s body. I see a shadow cross the threshold, and my heart picks up speed when I realize who it is.
Greg.
Oh God no! I’m going to lose everyone I love in one moment if Brandon sees him. He holds his finger up to his lips. He taps his wrist and then cocks his head toward the kitchen, silently telling me to run when he makes a move.
My heart is going to stop. There is no way it can beat this rapidly and not just give out. Dee’s eyes are wide. She looks over at me and I can see the fright in her alarmed brown eyes.
I bring my hand to the side and motion to her to wait then bug my eyes toward the kitchen. Her legs aren’t bound, and if she can run, we might be able to get out of this room.
We wait in stone-cold fear while Greg inches closer to Brandon, but before he can reach him Brandon spins around. He seems to pause for a second in confusion, and that’s all it takes for me to jump up, grab Dee by the arm, and pull her with me as we run into the kitchen. I hear the sounds of them colliding behind me as we take off.
The sound of the gun going off causes me to falter. I push Dee behind the island and look around for some form of protection. Damn! The knives are by the open doorway we just ran through. The only thing I can see is the cast-iron frying pan left on the oven from Dee’s breakfast. Thank God! Picking it up, I test the heaviness of the metal out in my hand before holding it down to my side. I bend down and check on Dee. She is shaking but seems okay.
“Get under the desk and don’t you move,” I tell her. I make quick work of the knot behind her back before letting her move from my side.
I watch her scurry around the far side of the island and burrow under the desk built into the wall. I push the chair in behind her and cover her body the best I can.
Moving back to the center island, I brace my legs apart and wait. I don’t know who is going to come around that corner but I’m ready. I won’t let him win. I won’t let him take my happiness.
It’s time that I remember what is important and fight for the future I want.
The future I deserve.
The future I have earned.
A future with Axel and our baby.
With an evil laugh, I hear him and my fears are confirmed. Oh, God. Greg!
“Oh, Isabelle? Come out, come out, wherever you are!” He laughs again before stumbling into the kitchen. “Where is that little bitch friend of yours, Isabelle?” He cocks his head to the side, and I notice that his left arm is hanging at an odd angle and the gun is missing.
I feel slightly better knowing Greg was able to put up a fight. The fear for Greg bubbles back up, but I push it back and straighten my shoulders.
I won’t let this man win.
Never again.
“Where is Greg?” I ask, shocked that my voice sounds strong and sure.
“Don’t you worry about him, Isabelle.” He takes a step forward. There are only a few more steps before he will have rounded the island. “Come here, bitch.” he spits out.
“No.” My voice sounds powerful in the stillness of the house.
“You’re going to be sorry for that.”
He lunges forward but doesn’t make it far before I swing wide and crash the frying pan against his skull. He looks into my eyes in confusion before crumpling to the floor. I throw the frying pan to the side and jump over his fallen body.
I run into the living room and almost fall to the floor when I see Greg’s still form and the pool of blood forming under his chest. Choking on the sob that escapes my mouth, I begin to frantically look for the gun. I get on my knees and search under all the furniture before finding it in the far corner of the room tucked under the couch.
I try a few times to reach it before I finally succeed. Right when my hands wrap around the handle, I hear him. Before I can straighten from the floor, my hair is gripped in his strong hands and he throws me towards the far wall. My body collides with Greg, who doesn’t move even with the force of my weight slamming into him. His warm blood soaks through my side.
I look up into Brandon’s disturbing face and smile when I feel the cold medal of the gun still in my hands. He takes a step forward but stops when I raise the gun level with his chest.
“Fuck you!” I scream and pull the trigger, empting every bullet into his chest.
I can hear Dee screaming from the other room, but before my arm falls back down, I overcome with the overwhelming fear running through my veins and let the numbness take over my body. I vaguely hear the gun hit the floor before I slump back against Greg’s body and the darkness rolls back in.
Axel
“IZZY!” I scream again into the phone. I run down the stairs and jump into my truck. When I heard her ex-husband’s voice coming through the line instead of Izzy’s, I thought my mind was playing tricks on me. For days we have been searching for him. Not one goddamn clue to where he has been, and the second she is out of my sight . . . the worst possible situation is playing out and I am helpless. There is no way I can get there quick enough.
I grab my phone while I tear out of the driveway and call Greg, the only one I can think of who will be close enough to save my girl.
“What’s up, Reid? Just talked to—”
“Shut up. Where the fuck are you?” I interrupt.
“Damn. On my way to Dee’s house. Izzy ca—”
“Brandon is there,” I interrupt again. I don’t have time. Izzy doesn’t have time.
“What?” All teasing has left his voice now.
“Just got a call from Izzy but it was him I heard over the line. I didn’t hear her once, Greg.” I take a second to calm down before I’m able to continue. The fact that I don’t know if she is okay is not lost on me. “I’m too far out. Get there. God, please get there and save my girl.” I don’t even realize that tears are rolling down my face until I hear the anguish that colors my words.
“Be there in five. I’ll get her.”
“Don’t let him take them from me,” I plead.
“Got it.” He takes a deep breath, and I know . . . I know how much he is holding back right there.
Greg loves Izzy, and for the first time, I realize just how powerful their bond is. He was her family and support when I couldn’t be. If anyone else can understand what my panic feels like at this moment, it is Greg.
I have to trust that he can make it in time. There is no way she can be taken from me twice.
I break every speed limit and every traffic law to make it to Dee’s in half the time it normally takes, pulling my truck right into the grass in front of her place and throwing it in park before jumping out and sprinting towards the door. I notice Greg’s truck off to the side parked at an odd angle. I check but don’t see him outside. The front door is wide open and there is no movement inside.
Silence.
Silence and sobbing.
Pulling the gun out of my ankle holster, I slowly walk through the threshold and down the long hallway. The sobbing is getting louder, and for the first time since arriving, I breathe. That is a female sob.
Hope flares to life and I rush around the corner but stop dead at the scene before me. The first thing I see is Brandon’s lifeless body in the opening to the kitchen. I don’t need to check to know he isn’t breathing. No way would he survive with that many holes in his chest. Dee is on the floor next to the tangled mess of Izzy’s and Greg’s bodies.
“NO!” I roar, running towards them, slipping on the blood that covers the floor around them. “Oh God, Izzy!”
“I c-c-called 91–1,” Dee stutters out next to me. “It isn’t hers,” she whispers.
“What?” I sob, running my hands down Izzy’s still body, looking for any sign of injury before moving her gently to the side. Her chest is rising and falling normally and her color is just slightly paler than normal. Besides a few cuts and bruises, she doesn’t appear to be harmed.
When I turn to Greg for the first time, her words register. “Fuck!” I roll him over and notice the wet hole on his side. “FUCK!” Ripping my shirt over my head, I press it against his belly and hope I can do enough to keep him stable before the ambulance arrives. “Check his pulse,” I say to Dee, but when I look over, she is weeping over Izzy’s body. My heart stills for a second when I look again at her still form. Why isn’t she moving?
Bringing my attention back to Greg, I bring one hand off his wound and check his pulse. Slow but there. I hold my shirt against him and wait.
We wait for what seems like an eternity before the paramedics start running through the house. Greg is quickly loaded up and taken away with Dee in the back with him. I drop down next to Izzy, where the paramedics are working on her.
“Sir? Sir? I need to ask you some questions,” the officer off to the side asks.
“Not now.” I run my hand over her hair and pray. She has to be all right. She has to survive. “Why isn’t she waking up?” I ask the paramedic next to me.
“I don’t know. Looks like her body’s way of protecting itself. All her vitals are fine, great actually, considering.” He gives me a look full of compassion. “She’s going to be fine.”
I let out the breath I didn’t realize I was holding, drop my head to her shoulder, and cry.
“She’s pregnant,” I whisper to the man beside me. “She’s pregnant with my baby.” My words sound odd to my ears, and I know I won’t be able to hold it together for long if I don’t see those beautiful pale eyes soon.
“Got it. We’re going to load her up now. You the husband?” he asks.
“Yes,” I answer and quickly follow them out to the ambulance.
“Sir. We need your statement,” the officer says, running behind us.
“Not. Now,” I repeat. “You want a statement? You get in your car and follow me to the hospital. I am NOT leaving her side. You hear me?”
The young officer stops short and seems shocked at the heat behind my words. Not what he was expecting. I can tell he is gearing up to protest, but I quickly interrupt him.
“Look”—I pause to check his nametag—“Officer Benson, I’m not trying to fucking run off. That woman is MY life and I won’t be letting her out of my sight after this shit. Can you just try to understand for a fucking second what I am going through and follow to the goddamn hospital, yeah?” I say but turn around and climb in without waiting for his response.
The ambulance pulls off, and I take her hand in my own and bend down to her ear. “I love you, Princess. Wake up now so I can see those eyes looking at me. Let me see that love, baby.”
I keep my head down to her ear and whisper everything and anything I can think of to let her know that she is safe and I’m here. The ten-minute drive to the hospital comes to a halt, and before they can roll her out, her eyes flutter open and she meets my gaze.
“Hey there, Princess,” I say, the emotion thick in my voice and the relief rocking me to my core. “Hey, my love.”
“Axel . . . love . . . you,” she says weakly before closing her eyes and drifting off again.
I jump out and follow the gurney into the emergency room, finally breathing easy for the first time since I answered her earlier phone call.
Izzy
The first thing I notice when I wake up is the quiet humming. Opening my eyes, I look around the dimly lit hospital room, trying to orientate myself to my surroundings. I feel a soft tickle on my arm and move my head to the side to look down.
Axel is sitting next to my bed with his chair pulled as close as he can get it. My right hand is held firmly in his and his lips are pressed against my skin. The humming I keep hearing is coming from him, his soft whispering against my skin. He is speaking low enough that I can’t understand the words, but the tone is light and loving.
“Ax-xel?” I say, my throat dry. It hurts to get the word past my lips.
His head shoots up and his red-rimmed eyes meet mine.
“Princess . . .” he whispers. Tears are forming in his eyes and a small smile tugs at the corners of his lips. “My girl, my brave girl,” he says, and a few tears fall over his lids. He closes his eyes tight and more spill over. “I thought I had lost you. When I walked around the corner and saw you . . . saw you lying in all that blood . . .” He trails off but not before his words hit my ears.
Blood? I wasn’t bleeding. Was I? Oh no! The baby!
“The . . . the baby?” I whisper hoarsely. “Please . . .” I shake my head back and forth violently, tears of my own streaming down my face. Not our baby! Please, God, not our baby!
“What? Oh, Izzy, no baby. The baby is fine. You are fine. I’m so sorry I didn’t mean your blood. Princess, stop crying, I promise, our baby is fine.” He is quick to reassure me over and over telling me that our little miracle is safe and fine.
When I finally calm down, I look into his eyes—his beautiful eyes. “We’re okay?” I ask.
“You’re both perfect,” he responds smiling before giving me a soft kiss.
“Greg? Dee?” I ask when he moves away to sit down on the side of my bed.
“Dee is going to be fine. She’s shaken up. Shaken up pretty fucking bad, but she will be okay. From what she said, Brandon had just tied her hands and taped her mouth. He had only been there for about an hour before you showed up. I think the worst of her injuries are where he clocked her when she opened the front door and a split lip. She’s fine, baby.”
“Where is she?” I ask, looking around the room again.
“Beck made her leave. He is taking her back to his place for a while. She said she was putting the townhouse on the market.”
I take that in and try to process it. I understand. I wouldn’t want to be there anymore either.
“I offered for her to stay with us for a while, but she said she would have to think about it.”
I scrunch my nose at that. “Why would she need to think about staying with us?”
“I don’t know, Princess. That’s something you will have to ask her yourself.”
“What about Greg?” I ask, almost afraid to know.
“He’s going to be okay. He came out of surgery a little while ago. It wasn’t anything serious even though it sure as fuck looked like it. Bullet went straight through and missed everything important. He’s one lucky son of a bitch.”
“He’s really okay? There was so much blood, Ax. And he wasn’t moving. He wasn’t moving at all.” My panic is coming back again, at remembering the way Greg looked—lifeless. He looked dead. “Axel, I need to see him!” I yell.
“Hey, hey . . . calm down, baby. I promise he’s okay. He’s in recovery, but I’ll see what I can do about getting you on a field trip, okay?”
I look up and catch the slight concern that crosses over his eyes before his quickly masks it. I know he has to be a mess over everything that happened, but he is holding it in and being strong for me.
“Okay. I just really need to see him, Axel. I need to see with my own eyes that he is going to be okay.”
“I understand, Princess. I’ll make it happen.” He leans down and gives me a gentle kiss. “Got room for one more on there, baby? I need to feel you close.” His mask slips slightly for me to see the vulnerability simmering under the surface.
“Yeah. Yeah, I do,” I respond and shift slightly so he can lean his body close to mine.
His feet are hanging off the end and a good portion of his body is hanging off the edge, but he wraps his arms tightly around me and I cuddle close, breathing him in and letting the peace only he can give me wash over my body.
“I never want to feel that fear again, Izzy,” he whispers into my hair and squeezes me tightly. “Never been so scared in my life.”
We lie like this, together and entwined, until the nurse comes in. She fusses until he moves back to his chair. I can’t help but laugh at the pout he is sporting while she finishes up her vitals checks. When he hears me, the look is instantly gone and he looks over with a huge smile.
“Love that sound, Princess. Most beautiful sound in the whole fucking world.”
I stayed in the hospital overnight. There wasn’t anything wrong with me, but they wanted to monitor my vitals and make sure that my head wound was okay. Luckily, I came out of the whole ordeal with only a small bump right next to my temple.
When I’m released, Axel and I make our way to the floor Greg is on. Maddox and Coop are in the room when we get there. Greg is awake but groggy. I walk into his room on the arm of Axel, who hasn’t let me go once since I woke up. Greg looks up and a small smile forms on his pale lips.
“Baby girl,” he said with a tear falling from his eye. “Baby girl, you are a sight.”
I walk over to the side of his bed and push Coop out of the chair he was sitting on, pulling it close to his bed. “Hey.” Yup, that is all I have before I break down and bury my head in the bed next to his hip. Axel comes up behind me and rubs my back.
“Baby girl, I’m okay. Nothing I can’t handle.”
“I thought you were dead, G!” I cry harder into the bed. “Don’t ever do that shit again!”
He laughs but agrees, and I sit there holding his hand while the conversation continues around us. Coop tells Maddox about all the good-looking nurses who keep popping in offering sponge baths and how he might have to get shot if that is what’s waiting for him. Maddox was shakes his head, but his eyes never leave mine.
“You okay, girl?” he asks when Coop finally shuts his mouth.
Axel gives my shoulder a squeeze in support, and I climb to my feet and walk over to Maddox. He opens his arms when I get closer and I wrap mine around his back. “I’m okay,” I say into his chest.
“Good. That’s good,” he says and gives me a small squeeze before releasing me.
“Get over here, Izzy,” I hear Axel say behind me. I roll my eyes at Maddox before turning around and walking back to Axel. “Mine,” he says to Maddox and pulls me into his body.
We get a rare laugh out of Maddox, and just like that, the tension in the room is lifted and we are able to breathe easy again.
Greg and Dee are fine. The baby and I are fine. And Axel’s arms are around me.
Life is good.