by Kaylea Cross
She collapsed back in her chair, unable to comprehend this new twist. Evan had seemed so sincere and almost amiable during their meeting. She’d wanted to believe him. Believe that he wouldn’t be a threat.
Her mind raced. Why would he do this? And how had he found out? Was someone helping him? “So what do I do?”
“We’ll mitigate as much of this as we can,” he said, making notes on a legal pad. “He’s trying to smear your reputation and fitness as a mother. But try not to worry, because I’ve got your back, and he’s been a deadbeat, absentee father Ella’s whole life. This is probably just scare tactics on his part to see how we react.”
“What are we going to do?”
“Prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that you’re the far better parent and guardian for Ella. Which you are, and any judge will see that. And I’m sure that your ex hasn’t been an angel, given his industry, so we’ll dig into his life and use whatever we can find. You’ve already said that your closest friends will act as character witnesses if need be. Then there’s Ella’s teacher and dance teacher, and your aunt Lizzie.” He reached across the desk to cover her hand with his and gave her a reassuring smile. “Honestly, don’t worry. I’ve seen so many cases like this, and yours is strong. It’s going to be fine.”
Tiana walked out into the waiting room in a daze to wait for Aidan, her worst fear staring her hard in the face. If Evan proved she was an unfit mother in court…
She shook her head, struggling to hang on to her composure. I won’t let them take Ella away from me. I won’t lose her.
I can’t.
Chapter Nine
Aidan hoped Tiana was having better luck at her appointment, because his was turning to shite.
He ran a hand over his face and sat back into his chair with a sigh of combined frustration and disappointment. “There’s nothing else that can be done?”
“Other than start the paperwork to apply for a green card, unfortunately, no,” his lawyer said.
“So that’s it, then. As of April 25th, I can no longer work in the States.”
“Correct.”
Bugger. Now what?
“I’m sorry, Aidan. I know how much you wanted to come back to live and work here.”
“Aye.” What would he do in the UK? His family was there, yes, but he didn’t want to be a security contractor for the rest of his life. He’d had his heart set on moving back to Crimson Point.
“Do you want to go ahead and start the other paperwork?”
“Please. Any chance at all that we can somehow fast track it? Get a decision by September?”
He shook his head, a faint smile on his face. “No. We’ll make your application as strong as we possibly can, but there are no guarantees.”
All right. Move on. “Let’s get started.”
On the way to pick up Tiana he ran through his options. None of them were appealing.
Looking forward to the distraction of Tiana’s company, he found a parking spot a ways away from the building her lawyer was in and went up to get her. He walked into the office, took one look at Tiana’s face as he entered and knew instantly that something awful had happened.
He gave her a smile when she looked up and saw him, wanting to get her out of there so he could ask her about it. Her in distress triggered all his protectiveness. “Hey there. Ready to go?”
She nodded slowly and pushed to her feet, face pale, her expression almost haunted. He waited until they were out in the hall alone together before asking. “What’s wrong?” he murmured as he walked with her toward the elevator.
“It’s Evan,” she answered after a moment. “When we met at the restaurant he seemed so sincere about only wanting to meet Ella, and not seeking any kind of custody. But he was lying through his damn teeth again because my lawyer just informed me he’s going to try to use certain…incidents from my past to prove I’m an unfit mother and file for custody.”
Well, shite. “That’s insane. Anyone who knows you knows what a fantastic mother you are. He’ll never prove you’re unfit, no matter what he tells the court.”
She didn’t answer, but the worried frown and the way she chewed at her bottom lip told him how upset she was. She was all in her head still, thinking about what the lawyer had said and what Evan was planning.
“If it comes to it, you’ve got plenty of friends to testify on your behalf—including the sheriff.” She looked so distraught that he had to try and comfort her, and risked slipping an arm around her shoulders and tucked her into his side. She didn’t pull away, and that in itself spoke volumes. He liked the feel of her there. Liked being able to pull her close and offer reassurance and protection. “Beckett and Sierra will defend you. And so will I.”
She tilted her head to look up at him. “You barely know me. And I was pretty much a bitch to you until recently.”
He knew enough to know she was unlike any woman he’d ever known. “Because you were being protective of your daughter. And you,” he added, hugging her into him. Her softness melded to his harder frame, some of the stiffness leaving her body.
“Can you not be so nice to me right now? I’m trying really hard to keep it together.”
He squeezed her shoulder, barely resisting the urge to kiss her. The woman distracted the hell out of him. She was on his mind constantly. “All right. Would you prefer sarcastic arse, or straight up numpty?
Her lips twitched. “Numpty? Is that even a word?”
“Aye, of course it’s a word, and a bloody good one. It means idiot.”
“Hmm, I think I’ll go with sarcastic ass.”
“My specialty, unless you count being a bit of a snoop.” He shrugged. “I can’t help it.”
He was heartened to see the slight smile forming on her luscious lips. Since he was tempted to take her face in his hands and kiss that lingering sadness away, he reined in the impulse and hit the call button for the elevator.
While they waited for it to arrive, he rubbed his hand up and down her upper arm, glad for the excuse to touch her. “Evan doesn’t stand a chance if he pushes this. It’ll turn out all right in the end, you’ll see. He abandoned his own daughter. Any judge with half a brain won’t look kindly on that.”
She blew out a breath. “I hope so. I can’t lose her. She’s everything to me.”
His heart squeezed. “There, you see? That sounds like the exact opposite of someone who could be called an inept mother.”
The bell dinged and the doors slowly slid open. The elevator was empty so he gestured for Tiana to precede him and hit the button for the lobby.
“How did your meeting go?” she asked as the doors slid shut behind them.
He could see she was still upset, so he appreciated even more that she’d asked. “Not the news I’d been hoping for, honestly. The appeal was denied. So it seems I might not be returning to the States after this contracting job after all.” That left him scrambling to revise his future plans and wrap up his life in Oregon before he left, just in case he couldn’t work here again. Worse, it also meant he might not have a chance with Tiana now.
“Oh no, I’m so sorry. Did they at least tell you what else you could try—” She broke off, glanced around as the floor of the elevator seemed to sway beneath them.
Aidan widened his stance for balance and grabbed hold of her arm to steady her. The elevator shuddered, a quiet clanking noise coming from above them.
The swaying intensified. Tiana gasped and gripped his arm, wobbling while the elevator began to swing from side to side. The car suddenly ground to a halt, the clanking noise from above growing louder. The entire thing rattled, shuddering around them, then an ominous, low rumbling filled the air.
Earthquake.
Aidan pushed Tiana back into a corner and leaned into her, wrapping one arm around her waist while he braced his free hand on the wall to keep them steady. She didn’t say a word, just dug her hands into his shoulders and held on.
The rumbling grew louder and the swaying motion turned into
a violent jarring back and forth. Bits of debris crashed down on the roof of the elevator and the lights flickered.
Then the power went out, plunging them into the darkness. And still the shaking continued.
Shite. It was a bad one.
He stayed where he was, keeping Tiana trapped in the corner and sheltered as best he could. They had just passed the fifth floor when the shaking started. If the cable snapped, they had a long drop and there was nothing he could do to protect her when they hit bottom.
She was rigid against him, her fingers curled into the fabric of his shirt. He pressed his cheek to her hair and held on, counting out the seconds. Over a minute now, and they were still swinging back and forth, the walls of the elevator hitting the sides of the shaft with jarring thuds, the scrape of metal rending the air.
More debris crashed down on the roof. Tiana flinched when something big slammed into the metal above their heads but she didn’t make a sound.
Aidan held her tighter. He counted to ninety-seven before the shaking began to ease. His pulse was elevated when they finally came to a stop.
For several seconds neither of them moved. Easing the pressure of his arm around her, he stroked his hand over her rigid back. “You okay?”
She gave a tight nod, her silky, apple-scented hair soft against his cheek. “You?”
“Aye.” With one last pass down the length of her back he released her and stepped back. She went with him, seemed to belatedly realize her fingers were clutching at his shirt.
She let go. “Sorry.”
“Nothing to be sorry for.” He glanced around. A faint trace of light was coming through the slit between the doors. He tried the emergency button on the panel. Nothing happened.
“That felt pretty bad. Can I use your phone? I need to check in with Ella.”
“Sure.” He swiped in the code and handed it to her, continued to look around as she made the call. The call button wasn’t working either. Nothing on the panel was lit. If the building had a backup generator, either it wasn’t on yet or it had been knocked out by the quake as well.
“There’s no signal.” Her voice was tight.
“We’re probably just too deep in the building.” Or the towers could be down.
“What if there’s a tsunami?” she said, and he could hear the stress in her voice. “Ella’s staying in an inundation zone.”
“If there is one the alarm will sound and the adults will evacuate them.” It was cold comfort, even to him, but he needed to make her stay calm because there was nothing they could do for Ella at the moment.
“Oh, God…”
“She’s going to be okay.” Based on the severity and duration of the quake, lord knew what kind of damage they’d find once they got out of this elevator. Best he could do at the moment was keep Tiana safe and get out of here so she could contact her daughter.
He tried several other buttons on the control panel, and got nothing. “We’re on our own for the time being,” he said, and pressed his fingers into the seam between the two doors to release the magnetic latching mechanism. Tiana aimed the light from his phone toward him so he could see.
He pulled the doors apart, shoving them open with brute force. A crumbled brick wall greeted him. The next floor was well below them. Bits of brick and mortar rained down in the tight gap between the elevator and the wall, warning him to keep his head inside.
“Can we get to the next floor?” Tiana asked.
“No.” He paused as sounds reached him through the walls. Voices. Clipped and urgent, and the thud of footsteps using what he presumed was the stairwell as people tried to evacuate.
Then he smelled it.
Smoke.
Ah, shite.
Tiana sucked in a breath. “Aidan…”
“Aye, I smell it. I’m getting us out of here right now.” Stretching his arms high over his head, he felt around for another exit.
THE BUILDING WAS ON FIRE. And they were trapped in here.
Tiana swallowed her terror, aiming the light from Aidan’s phone toward the elevator roof as he jumped up and slammed his palms against the ceiling. She’d lived in the Pacific Northwest for years and was well aware that it was at extreme risk for a large earthquake. But experiencing one firsthand was something else entirely.
The car shook as his weight landed. She didn’t bother asking what he was doing; it was clear he had a plan. The quake had been scary enough, but not knowing whether Ella was okay, and that an even greater threat might be rushing toward her daughter in the form of an unstoppable and deadly wall of water, was terrifying.
Hurry, hurry, she urged Aidan, her heart pounding in her throat. They needed to get out before the smoke got them. She was desperate to get out of the building so she could contact Ella—if the cell towers were still working. Not being there to protect her daughter was like a blade twisting in her chest.
Aidan jumped again, grunted as his hand made contact with something in the ceiling, then a heavy object rattled across the roof and clattered down the shaft. A small amount of light from the elevator shaft filtered down through a gap in a panel he’d opened.
He jumped one more time, slamming the panel aside and dislodging more debris. Above her she could just make out the shape of cables disappearing up into the darkness. The scent of the smoke grew stronger.
“Right. Let’s get out of here,” Aidan muttered.
Before she could say anything he’d jumped up to grab the sides of the opening. She watched in amazement as he hoisted his upper body through it, then levered himself out of sight.
His hand appeared a second later, reaching for her through the opening. “Give me your hand.”
She shoved his phone into her purse and lifted her arms up. Warm, incredibly strong hands locked around her right wrist. She clamped on with both hands.
“On three, you’re going to jump, and then I’ll pull you up.”
“Okay,” she answered shakily, adjusting her grip. Her hands were cold and already growing damp.
“One. Two. Three.”
She jumped, automatically tightening all her muscles as he began to pull her upward. The sheer amount of strength he displayed astounded her as he drew her up until her head cleared the opening.
“Grab the top with your left hand,” he told her, his voice strained. She let go of his arm with her left hand and slapped her palm down on top of the roof, pushing upward while he kept pulling on her other arm.
They were both breathing harder when he got her through the panel. She crouched on top of it uncertainly, afraid to move. “All right?” he asked.
The smoke was thicker here. Enough to irritate her eyes and throat. “Yes.”
“Sit tight. I’m going to open the doors above us and get us out the same way.”
“Okay.” Having just witnessed his athletic ability, she had no doubt he could do it.
He rose to his full height and stretched out his arms to grasp the seam between the closed doors above them. More smoke flowed into the shaft as he pried them apart and looked through the gap. “I don’t see any flames, but right now this is our only way out. We’ll have to chance it.”
“All right.” She sounded way calmer than she actually was.
Aidan levered himself up onto the floor above, then knelt and reached down for her. This time she could see his face a little. “Ready?”
“Yes.” She reached up for his forearm, locked her hands around the steely muscles there. “On three?”
“Aye.” He counted down, let out a low groan as he pulled her upward, until she could scramble through the opening on her hands and knees. There was no one else on this part of the floor but the smoke was heavy in the air. Acrid enough to sting her eyes.
“We’re going to have to crawl to the stairs,” Aidan told her. “Stay low and hug the wall. Follow me.”
She did as he said, the side of her left hip brushing the wall, her right sliding against Aidan’s as they crawled. Keeping her head low, she took shallow breaths w
hile her pulse hammered in her throat. She jumped when debris fell from the ceiling mere feet in front of them, crashing to the floor with a thud. More smoke poured through the hole.
“Keep going. Don’t stop.” Aidan led her around it.
Hard bits of debris bit into her knees and palms as she crawled but she kept going, her sole focus on escaping. Ella needed her. Might be in terrible danger.
She could hear other people now. Running somewhere close up ahead.
“I see the door.”
Tiana stayed right next to Aidan as they closed the distance to the stairwell. He laid a hand on the door first to check for heat, then opened it. “No flames,” he told her. “Smoke’s not as bad in here.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her through it, then lifted her to her feet.
The air was clearer. She drew a deeper breath, trying to get her bearings in the sudden chaos. People were rushing down the concrete steps below and above them.
Aidan pushed her back against the door as a herd of humanity came thundering down the steps toward them. As soon as it was clear he tugged her forward. “Keep your arm around me,” he ordered, and started down the steps.
Tiana slung an arm around his waist from behind and tucked her fingers into one of his belt loops. His fingers closed around her wrist to anchor her and held on as they descended.
Below them a door banged open. More people spilled out into the stairwell. Someone was sobbing. The back of Tiana’s neck prickled as the sudden rise in panic from below hit her. Aidan slowed, turned a corner on the stairs and came to a stop. She peered over the railing.
People were pouring through the open doorway on the next floor down. Thick, black smoke billowed out of the opening, and she caught the flicker of flames somewhere in the hallway.
She coughed and put a hand over her nose and mouth as the rising wall of smoke hit her. It burned her eyes, nose and throat, so thick and black it blotted out what was happening down the stairs. She pressed closer to Aidan, terrified. Thank God he was with her, because he made her feel a lot safer than if she’d been alone.
