Chapter 13
Getting into her vehicle later that morning was very difficult. She hated to leave Talon and Laszlo behind. While she had talked Talon out of coming to work with her, she suspected he was following her nonetheless. She had to smile thinking about that, how those two guys were more a part of her life than anybody else in it. She knew there was no way she would survive living in California while they were in Santa Fe. Trying to keep a long-distance relationship going with Talon wouldn’t work. She’d lost Talon once because she hadn’t been willing to give in. She had no intention of doing it again. Chad and Talon had been her life, and, when Talon had walked out, Chad had been her life. Her husband never took the top spot.
Once Chad was gone, she’d been so alone, missing the men who had been so important to her. Now that she had a chance to redo her relationship with Talon and make it bigger and better than it ever had been, she was desperate to make sure he didn’t get a chance to change his mind. She knew he cared.
She hadn’t yet told him how much she loved him. That oversight was something eating at her as she drove away from her house. She’d realized it when she was in the kitchen, waiting for the coffee to drip. And she hadn’t found the right time after that.
She wasn’t very far from her office. One of the first things she would do was hand in her letter of resignation. She wanted to talk to the manager and see if she could take her holidays due to her in lieu of working her last two weeks. She thought they owed her close to two weeks as it was. Might even be more. She’d signed a contract when she had first started with them but hadn’t had a chance to double-check it at home to see how long a notice she was supposed to give.
She’d stay and work out what she needed to, but, if there was a chance to leave sooner, she’d turn around right now and head back home again. And it wouldn’t take her long to handle what she needed to do to put Chad’s house on the market. She had a friend in real estate. She’d be more than happy to take on the listing. There was no point in staying for Chad or her parents.
Her parents had made it very clear this wasn’t their life. And Clary was welcome to join them as they traipsed around the backwoods of the world, but that so wasn’t her life. Nor was staying in place in case somebody came home one day—not anymore anyway.
She pulled into the underground car park and hopped out.
Her boss got out of his vehicle a few spaces away from her. He waved and called out, “You look like you had a good weekend.”
She winced. “I’m not sure that’s true.” She really liked him. He had always been kind. “And I do have some news that might be upsetting for you guys.”
“Oh, what’s that?” He walked closer to her as they spoke.
“I’m handing in my resignation today.” As he was her boss, she said, “This is verbal notice, and I’ll follow it up with a written one too.”
He stopped and shook his head. “I’m so sorry to hear that. I hope it’s not a rival firm because we can always negotiate something to make you happier here.” He frowned. “Honestly I didn’t think you were unhappy here. Why are you leaving?”
She chuckled. “It has nothing to do with the job, nothing to do with the people. I’ll be living in Santa Fe with somebody I should never have split with in the beginning.”
A look of understanding crossed his face. “Aah, love. Well, that’s an argument I can’t win. If you’re determined to go, then go with all our blessings.”
She smiled. “Thank you. That is really nice.” As she walked toward the elevators, she said, “I’m hoping to leave as soon as possible.”
“Do you have any holidays coming?”
She nodded. “I do. And I cleaned off my desk pretty well last week.”
He nodded. “I know the caseload right now is quite manageable. We’d have to hire somebody to replace you no matter what.” His speech slowed as if thinking hard.
“You had two girls earlier this year for extra help. Emily, in particular, was really good. If you’re looking for a replacement, I’d start with her.”
He glanced at her in surprise. “I think I remember her—middle-aged, tall, no-nonsense attitude, very much a worker?”
Clary laughed. “That’s her. She was very much a worker. She had everything organized and in tip-top shape like we’ve never seen it.”
“In that case, I think we will give her a call. Why did we let her go?”
“She was only in for holiday relief. Then we did manage to keep her for about four months as everybody went off on their vacations. But once your full-time staff was back, there wasn’t enough work for her.”
“Would you mind calling her, asking if she’d come in and talk to us, if she’s interested in at least a temporary trial to see how it works out?”
“I can do that.”
At the elevator, she realized she’d left her purse behind. She frowned and said, “Drat. I’m really ditsy this morning. I left my purse in the car.” She started to walk back, turned, and said, “I’ll be up in a few minutes.” He waved at her, and she quickly retraced her steps to her car.
She unlocked it, bent in toward the passenger side, and pulled out her purse. As she straightened, slamming the door, she found a man with a baseball cap and a scarf, or something, pulled up to his chin in front of her. She frowned. “Can I help you?”
He smiled. “I’m sure you can.” He bent down and clicked something around her legs before she had a chance to move.
She tried to take a step and fell down, crying out. “Help,” she screamed.
The blow came out of nowhere, slamming against the side of her face. She moaned as a second blow was a direct hit against her jaw. She shuddered at the pain and felt herself being dragged on the concrete floor.
Struggling, she reached up and clawed at his hands gripped around her feet. If nothing else she’d have his DNA under her fingernails for somebody to nail this asshole.
But just the thought of that, just knowing there was a chance she might not get that future she was so desperate to have with Talon, had her fighting like crazy. Kicking her feet free of his hands, she pulled her knees up to her chest. As he reached down again, she kicked him hard against his wrist.
He swore and started kicking her. She rolled and rolled again, trying to get away from him. But he was losing it, his blows getting harder and harder. There was a vehicle right beside her, and although it took more effort than she thought she had, she managed to slide underneath. He tried to catch her and pull her back out again. But a truck drove in.
He swore again, bent down, and snapped, “The next time I’ll just shoot you.” And he took off.
She waited until she heard his footsteps running away before she pulled her head out from underneath the vehicle. Her purse was lying beside her. She managed to get her cell phone out, quickly dialing Talon’s number.
“Talon,” she cried into the phone, her heart slamming against her chest as she frantically looked around to see if this asshole would come back. “I was just attacked in the parking lot where I work. Can you come get me?”
“Stay where you are. I’ll be right there. I was just a couple blocks behind you.”
Despite her shackled feet, she crawled to her vehicle, pulled herself inside, and locked the doors. She dropped the seat back until she was lying down, trying to hide. She could have called out for somebody else, but there was no way she would take the chance. She wanted Talon, and she wanted him now.
The sobs were threatening to break, but she didn’t dare. She had to keep her wits about her. If this guy had seen her get back into her car, she was a sitting duck. She looked down at her feet and didn’t understand what it was that he’d put on her. It was some kind of an instant locking mechanism was all she could tell. She stared at it and shuddered.
Her phone rang. “We’re pulling into the parking lot. Where are you?”
“I’m inside my car,” she said, crying now that she realized he was almost here. “Please find me.”
Suddenly his face appeared in her driver’s side window. She hit the Unlock button. He threw the door open and bent down, wrapping her in his arms. And she burst into sobs.
“Easy. You’re okay now. It’s all right.”
She shook her head, shuddering in pain. “My feet,” she stammered. “My feet.”
He gave a strangled exclamation and carefully lifted her from the car. He tried to look at her feet but had to twist around so Laszlo could look instead.
Laszlo let out a light whistle. “Wow. I haven’t seen one of these since our military days.”
But the good news was, because he had seen them, he could also undo them. And just as suddenly as her legs had been tied up, she was free. She shifted her legs back and forth, making sure she could move. Talon, misunderstanding what she was doing, set her on her feet.
And she threw herself back into his arms. “I was walking to the elevator with my boss, but I forgot my purse,” she cried out. “I came back to my car, grabbed my purse from the seat, turned around, and he was right there in front of me.”
“Who?” His voice was hard, the look in his eyes deadly.
She shook her head. “He had on a baseball cap and a bandanna, a cowboy scarf, up over his nose. I couldn’t see anything.”
“Height?” Laszlo asked.
She turned to look at him. “Similar to you guys, but he was thinner. There was almost …” She stopped and thought about it. “Freckles. He had freckles on the back of his hands. He was dragging me by my feet in the parking lot here, and I managed to get one foot free. When he reached for me again, I kicked him really hard in the wrist, and he lost it. He started to kick the crap out of me,” she said, crying again, shivering uncontrollably.
It took another few minutes before she could get more words out. “I just rolled, and kept rolling, hoping as I rolled, his blows would not be able to hit as hard. I made it under that vehicle beside us.” She pointed to the truck.
“As he reached for me underneath there, I was screaming and screaming. Another vehicle drove in, and he told me the next time he would just shoot me.”
At that she gave up and buried her face against Talon’s chest and hugged him tight.
Talon just held her. The brazenness of the attack was unbelievable. That he’d used a military lock system for her feet was definitely concerning. He and Laszlo exchanged hard glances.
Laszlo walked around, looking for any evidence, something they could use to identify who the hell had been here. He called out, “Footprints over here.”
He stood in a parking space beside the truck she’d rolled under. There had been some kind of leak, maybe antifreeze or coolant gathered underneath. The perpetrator had stepped in it, and his footsteps could be traced to a space on the opposite side of the car park. Laszlo followed the footprints as Talon watched and held her close.
“Hey, what’s going on here?” a man roared behind him.
Talon turned to see a suited male racing toward them with anger, confusion, and concern on his face. He tilted Clary’s face up and said, “Do you know him?”
“It’s my boss.”
He came to a stop beside them. “What happened, Clary?”
She sniffled. “I came back to get my purse, and I was attacked.”
Talon took it from there and explained what had happened.
Her boss was horrified. “Have you called the police?”
She shook her head. “Not yet.”
“You need to. Anybody see what vehicle he took off in?”
Clary shook her head. “Honestly I didn’t see anything. Just his feet as he left.”
“I know it’s a long shot,” Talon said, “but did you recognize what he was wearing?”
She closed her eyes as she thought about when she was fighting him off underneath the vehicle. “He had on jeans and some kind of work boots.” She frowned, held up her hands. “I scratched his arm and neck to make sure, if I did end up dying, there’d be DNA.”
Talon took a look of her fingers. “Good. We’ll get this processed at a special lab.”
She looked up at him. “How long will that take?”
“With enough money, not very long at all.”
The lawyer said, “We’ll pay for it. She was attacked in our building, and this is completely unacceptable.”
Talon was gratified to see Clary’s boss was, indeed, shimmering with rage. Talon glanced around. “Do you have cameras down here?”
The boss nodded, pulling out his phone. “I’m calling security. We’ll get the video footage run. I also know a cop who has helped us out a couple times. I’ll give him a quick call too.” He looked at her. “How badly hurt are you?”
She gave him a wan smile. “I’m not exactly sure. He kicked me pretty hard. I haven’t moved much yet, but I certainly hurt.”
The boss turned to look at Talon. “And who are you?”
Talon’s arms wrapped around her possessively, tucking her up close.
The boss nodded. “The reason why she told me this morning that she’s quitting, I presume?”
Talon glanced at him in surprise.
“Yes, exactly,” she said. “And I really don’t want to go to work today.”
Her boss snorted. “You’re not only not working today but, as far as I’m concerned, the next few weeks will go under medical leave, then we’ll pay out your vacation time. But I suggest you get to the hospital first and foremost to get checked out. It’s too easy to have broken a rib if he had work boots on. Those steel toes can cause all kinds of damage.”
Talon agreed. He looked down at her. “Do you need anything from here? Anything personal from your office or your car?”
She shook her head. “No, my desk was clean. There’s nothing I need to worry about here.”
Talon glanced over at her boss. “Does she need to sign anything?”
The lawyer shook his head. “We can send it by email. Get her to the hospital. And make sure you protect her. Plus get those fingernails processed. I want this asshole prosecuted.” And with that, he stormed off, still on his phone.
Talon reached out a gentle hand and stroked Clary’s cheek. “I’m so sorry this happened to you, honey.”
She nodded.
Talon helped her into the passenger side of her car. “Let me talk to Laszlo for a moment, and then I’ll take you to the hospital.”
“I probably don’t need the hospital, just a clinic.”
He wasn’t so sure about that but wasn’t prepared to argue. Her boss was already walking back inside, his stride hard, angry. Talon was glad he appeared to be a good man, had looked after Clary for so long.
Laszlo reached Talon just as he walked out to the end of the car park. “No sign of anyone here.”
Talon brought him up to speed on what the boss had said.
Laszlo nodded. “You go get her checked out. I’ll stay here and talk to security, see if we can come up with something on the video feed.”
“He had jeans on and work boots. Tall, slim. She said he had freckles on his hands.”
“So maybe a redhead? Light-haired, definitely Caucasian.”
With that Talon walked back to Clary. He hopped into the vehicle. “The hospital is better if you think you’ve got busted ribs. If we’re likely to be looking at just bruises and cuts, then the clinic will work.”
She sighed. “The clinic might be faster.”
He made an executive decision and said, “Any good doctor will send you for X-rays anyway, so we’ll start at the hospital.”
She sagged back in place.
Once he got her in the emergency room, they told the triage nurse what had happened. They were told to take a seat but luckily only had to wait twenty minutes.
She got sorer and stiffer the longer she sat. When she stood up again, she gasped as the pain stabbed into her side and her head throbbed. One hand went to her side and the other to her head as she cried out.
Talon helped her into the cubicle, and they waited for somebody to come and check her out.
When the nurse came in, Talon looked at Clary and asked, “Do you want me to stay, or do you want me to go?”
She said, “Stay.”
And what followed was an hour of examination, nails clipped for DNA collection, doctor consult, and then off to the X-ray department. As he suspected, the doctor wanted to check out some of the bruises and swelling taking over her body. When she had to strip down for the doctor to see how bad the damage was, it had been all Talon could do to hold back his own cries of fury at the damage this asshole had inflicted on her.
Back from the X-rays, they had to wait again for the radiologist to look at them and then for the doctor to speak with her once more. Talon had had several text messages from Laszlo. He’d sent out notices to everybody in the group to let them know what had happened. This wasn’t the way anybody wanted anything to end.
The good news was, she didn’t have to go back to her job. And, for that, Talon was grateful. He fully planned to return to Santa Fe with her. He just may have to delay their trip until she could handle the traveling without additional pain.