Two weeks later…

“Can I come home?” I said and moved the phone to my other ear. “My mom is growing sick of me.”

“That’s not true,” she yelled from the other room.

“Are you telling fibs?” Tyler teased. “I need to talk to Alan this afternoon. Just hang tight.”

I called Tyler every day since I arrived at my parents’ place. Sometimes twice a day. The night I left, a S.W.A.T. team was sent to Stephen’s home. Tyler let me know there was a possibility the killer would go there first. When they arrived, there was an orange jump suit hanging in front of the TV with a note attached to it that read, Too late.

For two weeks the media shared the story non-stop in hopes someone would see something suspicious. Then last night Tyler told me about a woman who called the hotline. She said there was a man matching Stephen’s description walking down the center of a busy intersection. When the cops went to the location, they only found a hospital gown and another note: You’ll never find us.

“Did the cops talk to the mysterious woman?” I was still a little thrown off that someone would make a prank call in regards to someone’s life.

“Yeah, they traced the call to a pay phone outside of the precinct.”

“What? Were their security cameras able to pick anything up?”

“Yeah, and she’s being questioned now.”

I let out a heavy sigh. “I just fucking want Stephen home.”

“Me too, baby,” Tyler said and paused for a beat. “I want you both home.”

We sat there in silence for about two minutes. “You know what,” I blurted out. “I want to come home.”

“No.” He didn’t even give me a chance to say my piece. “I don’t know what I would do if you were taken.” There was a sound I couldn’t discern. Then he snuffed and I knew he was crying. This tough man had a breaking point, too. “Please,” he whispered.

Damn it. I wanted to run to him and tell him everything would be okay. Instead I was two thousand miles away and separated by a fucking phone. “Just find him,” I whispered. We didn’t say anything more. What could we say?

I was resting on the sofa and had a movie paused. Right as I was about to hit play on the remote, I heard a scream followed by, “Zoe, run.”

My mind was not computing what was happening. Then I heard footsteps in the hallway. I grabbed my phone and ran behind the couch. I dialed Tyler’s number and set it on the window sill. If this asshole was coming into my house, he better be ready for a fight. I planned to win with a knockout for the second time in under a month.

“I know you’re in here,” a gravelly voice said. “If you want your parents to stay alive, you should just give up.”

“I never give up.” I stood and walked around the couch. My phone was still resting on the window sill. I heard Tyler’s voice when it connected, but I couldn’t say anything to him. My hope was, he knew to send help immediately.

“There you are.” He walked back into the hallway and reached for something. “Why are you standing here? You know you want to see her.” Then he pushed a man into my living room. It wasn’t just any man; it was Stephen. “What’s the matter, cat got your tongue?” He kicked Stephen, causing him to fall to the floor.

“So is this what you do, you mess with people weaker than you?” I squatted down to be eye level with Stephen. We didn’t say a word. We didn’t need to. It was like we were able to communicate with our eyes. “He needs medical attention.”

“He’s fine.” The guy walked around Stephen and advanced on me. “I’ve been dying to see how good of a fighter you really are. I hear you won your last fight.”

I wanted to laugh but I held it in. This guy was easily a hundred and seventy. He would probably be a welterweight fighter if he even had the ability to fight in an octagon. Tyler was about the same weight, and I fought him during practice. This was going to be too easy.

“Zoe, don’t do it,” Stephen said and coughed.

“Shut up.” The guy turned and kicked Stephen in his side.

I had no idea where my parents were at the moment. Stephen was fighting for his life in front of me. I held out hope that Tyler had help on the way. So I had to fill this empty space by taking the fucker down. The moment he turned to kick Stephen, I lunged forward and wrapped my arm around his neck. Was it going to be this easy to take him down? If I managed to follow through on a perfect rear-naked choke hold I wanted a second belt.

“You don’t play fair.” He bent his head forward. “Is that how you win these fights?” He slammed my body against the TV, causing it to fall forward, and threw us both off balance. Somehow I ended up on the bottom when we fell to the floor and he was straddling me. “This makes more sense.” He laughed and threw a few punches against my head.

I knew he wasn’t holding me down perfectly, so I found a way to put my arms against my side, in between his legs. Then I timed it perfectly and pushed my arms out. I lifted my body at the same time, causing him to topple to the side. Without hesitation, I jumped up and placed my body on top of him.

What happened next surprised me. Stephen was sitting up on his knees holding a vase over the guy’s head. “Stephen, don’t do it.”

“Do you know what he has put me through?” I could see his arms shake and knew I had to find a way to stop him.

“I know, but you don’t want to do this.” The guy had his eye on the vase which meant his neck was wide open for me. “We need to do this the right way. Let the authorities take him.”

“Come on, you pansy ass,” the asshole chided and had this horrible smirk on his face.

I bent forward and dropped my forearm over his windpipe. He needed to shut the fuck up. “Look, Stephen, he can’t breathe. I’m taking care of it.” I had to keep my eyes focused on the guy while talking Stephen off a ledge. The guy tried to fight against me but slowly lost the ability. When I saw his eyes close, I stood up and reached for the vase. I threw the glass to the side and dropped down to my knees in front of Stephen. “It’s over.” He dropped his head. “It’s all over, Stephen. You’re okay.”

He fell forward into my arms and began to sob. “Zoe. I’m so sorry, Zo.”

I was rocking him back and forth when I heard the police push down the front door. “We’re in here,” I yelled. Suddenly my mind cleared and I realized my parents could be dead in the other room. “My mom and dad,” I said and pulled him to his feet. “I need to go see them.”

“They’re okay,” he reassured me as he followed behind.

My mom and dad were in the backyard knocked out. I ran over and knelt beside them both. “Mom. Dad.” I shook them lightly, trying to wake them. “Please be okay.” When they started to stir, my body physically relaxed. I looked back at Stephen who was sitting on a step. “How did he find my house?”

“He looked up your dad’s name.”

My dad was rubbing his head. “We will be fixing that.” He sat up and reached for my mom’s hand. “He really thought he could take an AFC fighter down?”

“He gave it the old college try,” I teased and stood up. “I had help.” Stephen looked up and shook his head. I walked over and sat down beside him. “Teamwork at its best.”

“More like, you made sure I didn’t make the biggest mistake of my life.”

I was holding Stephen’s hand when a cop walked in front of us. “Ma’am.” I noticed she was holding a phone.

“Zoe.” I was too young to be a ma’am yet.

“It’s Tyler,” she said and held the device out for me to take.

“So you got the message,” I said and put the phone on speaker. “There’s someone here who would love to say hi.”

“Stephen,” Tyler whispered.

“Yeah, sweetheart. I’m here.” Then he just lost it. The tears were flowing one after another.

“Ty, come see us now.”

“I’m at the airport. I’ll see you in a few hours.”

My mom grabbed the phone so I could take Stephen into my arms. His body shook as he set every single emotion free. I don’t know how long we stayed like that, but my eyes were sore and I didn’t think it was possible to shed another tear.

“Stephen, we need to get you to the hospital.” He wrapped his arms tighter around my waist. “I won’t leave your side.”

“Do you promise?” he said in a muffled voice from against my chest.

“On my great grandma’s grave.” Mom and Dad were sitting on the swing set. I knew they wanted to help, but we had to just wait. Stephen was extremely fragile at the moment. I knew any sudden movement could set him off.

“Okay,” he whispered.

I nodded to my dad. “My dad is going to get the car started up and then we’ll walk together and get in the back. You ready?” My mom had her hand over her mouth, and tears were falling as she stood by the SUV. I locked my eyes with my mom, and we both just stared at each other for the longest moment. We both knew Stephen had a long road ahead of him. He had been traumatized and I really wondered if he would ever feel normal again. I rubbed my hand up and down his back. “Come on, love.” We slowly walked to the vehicle. About halfway there, we heard a crash from behind us, which caused Stephen to fall to the ground.

I looked up at the porch where a detective stepped out of the house and held up a vase. “Sorry about the mess.”

“Can you guys keep it down for maybe two minutes? That’s all I need.” I bent down and brought Stephen to a standing position. “It’s okay. The detective broke that vase you hated.” I saw a small smile form. It was good to see him react. “I see that smile.” He stepped up into the SUV and sat down first. Then I sat down beside him. “Tyler will meet us at the hospital, okay?” He only nodded and turned to look out the window.

I would make that asshole pay for what he did to Stephen. Then I realized I had to be thankful he was still alive. Most of the victims taken by this fucker saw a completely different outcome. I grabbed Stephen’s hand and brought it to my lips.

“Zoe,” he whispered.

“Yes.” I placed his hand against my chest.

“I love you.”

I just sat there speechless. Tyler said it, now Stephen, was it my turn?