Cooper

I keep sawing at the tape that binds my wrists and pray that I can get it loose before it’s too late. Her eyes are starting to look wild, and I know there isn’t much time. She heaves her large bag up and starts digging around. She brings up a few baggies of little white pills until she seems satisfied with the one she has. I can’t see how many pills the bag holds, looks like maybe three or four. She dumps them all in her hand and throws them into her mouth. After bringing a bottle of water out of her bag, she dumps it over her mouth, most of it falling around her mouth and running down her neck. By the time she appears to have had enough, she is soaking wet.

“I’ve been watching! I’m always watching!” she screams and starts to charge towards me.

The hammer in her hand comes up over her head. I watch with stark terror as the hammer gets higher and higher with each step she takes towards me.

“Drop it,” I hear from just over my shoulder. The voice strong. Commanding. And in total control. “Drop the fucking hammer now or, so help me God, I will shoot you,” the voice promises.

I make another sharp dig against the tape, opening my mouth wide in a silent scream. The last thing I want to do right now is remind this chick that I’m still in the room. I rip off the remaining tape, fumbling a few times because my hands are soaked with my blood.

“Drop it,” the voice reminds.

I keep my eyes focused on Sarah Jane and her hammer. I back up against the far wall and hold my arms over my stomach, praying that I’ll feel Zac start to move soon.

Sarah Jane goes to take another step and the sudden boom of a gunshot ringing out in the confined space has me screaming out. I curl into myself as much as my belly will allow.

“Don’t fucking move! This time I won’t be as nice and I’ll aim for something more important than your shoulder.”

“I’ve been watching. I’m always watching! You don’t know what this whore took from me!”

“And I don’t fucking care.” I shiver at the coldness that’s come over the voice to my side. “One more time—drop the hammer.”

“I’m going to bash you to pieces when I finish with the whore,” Sarah Jane promises.

I hear her snarl and what sounds like her feet shuffling forward. I close my eyes tight and brace for whatever happens next, making sure that my arms are still covering as much of my stomach as possible.

I scream when I hear another shot and start to cry uncontrollably. I scream and cry—beg and plead. It isn’t until minutes later, when I feel a small, warm hand lightly touch my shoulder, that I dare to look up.

When I see Emmy’s honey-colored eyes looking back into mine, I cry louder. She pulls me into her arms and lets me use her to be my strength since mine is gone.

I don’t once let go of the hold I have on Zac…the whole time, praying that he will just move.

Chapter 35 – Asher

Maddox jumps the curb when we pull up to the apartment, his fender kissing the brick wall. I don’t even take a second to make sure he’s coming up with me. It’s been too long. Chelcie’s phone cut off two minutes ago, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about everything that could be happening to her. The sound of her scream is still echoing in my head, and the ball of dread starts to snowball out of control. When the elevator opens on our floor, my heart feels like it’s stopped beating, because the second my feet hit the carpet outside the elevator, I hear the unmistakable sound of a gun being fired.

“Fucking hell,” Maddox hisses.

He’s been keeping pace with me this whole time, the adrenaline clearly helping his movements. I run down the hall as quickly as I can, cursing that our door is the very last one on the hall—the one that will take me the longest to reach. Skidding to a stop at the open doorway, I see Sarah Jane. She’s bound by her wrists and ankles with duct tape and, by the looks of it, either passed out or in shock. I can also see that she is the one bleeding from what appears to be two gunshot wounds—one to her left shoulder and the other to her right kneecap.

I pull my own gun from my shoulder harness, looking over and seeing Maddox doing the same. He nods his head towards the open doorway and we make our way into the room, looking for any source of danger that might still be present.

I stop dead in my tracks when we make it around the wall that was blocking the rest of the room from my view. Chelcie is clinging to a blonde woman, sobbing so hard that her whole body is shaking with the force of her crying. I look around the room, making sure there isn’t another threat before kneeling down next to them. The second my movements are registered with the blonde woman holding an inconsolable Chelcie, her head whips up, and all of a sudden, I have a gun pointed against my forehead. Her eyes flash with recognition when she realizes who it is and she immediately drops the gun.

“What the fuck, Emmy?” Maddox booms through the room.

Chelcie is shifted to my arms and Emmy peels her body off the floor. For the first time, I notice that she has blood all over her.

“Are you hurt?” I ask, my voice sounding miles away.

“It isn’t mine. She wouldn’t let me move her to check her wrists, but that’s where it’s coming from. She was cutting the tape off her wrists when I came in.”

“Chelcie, Sunshine…look at me. I’m here. I’m here and it’s over. Let me look at you.”

Her crying intensifies, and I look up at Emmy, helpless as to how to help her. She all but throws her piece at Maddox—who is still looking at her with so much anger that I’m shocked she isn’t catching on fire. Then she kneels back on the floor next to Chelcie and slowly forces her hands off of her belly.

“Let me look at you, okay? Maddox is making the call right now and we’ll get you right over to the hospital to check on the baby. Is that what you’re worried about?” her soothing voice whispers softly to Chelcie.

I feel her nod her head yes against my chest and my heart drops. What if something is wrong with Zac? I didn’t even think that he could be harmed. Her belly doesn’t look injured.

“Chelcie, is it Zac? Sunshine…is it our boy?”

She nods her head, and I feel like I’m dying inside.

“Someone call fucking nine one one! Goddammit,” I roar.

“Maddox is calling them right now, Asher. Let me get closer so I can check her arms. I need to make sure the bleeding has stopped.

Our boy. Our perfect little baby boy. God wouldn’t be so cruel. He wouldn’t take Zac from us. He wouldn’t allow another profound loss to rock our lives.