by Odette Stone
I looked up the steps. “Where am I looking?”
“Try her room?”
I was about to kick off my shoes when all the lights went out, leaving me in complete darkness. “Shit, the lights went out.”
“There’s a flashlight under the kitchen sink.”
I used the light on my phone to move to the kitchen. I rummaged under the sink before putting my hands on a heavy flashlight. “Found it.”
“The electrical panel is against the garage.”
“Outside?”
“Yes, outside.”
I moved to the mudroom, and my runners squelched with water. I could feel the wind before I saw the open door.
“Mom, I have to go.”
“What’s wrong?”
My voice was shaking. “The back door was open. There’s water everywhere.”
“I locked it.”
My voice dropped to a whisper. “Are you sure?”
She paused for a long moment. “I’m not sure.”
This felt like the start of a bad horror movie, and I dutifully said my lines. “It’s fine. It was probably the wind.”
“Okay. Call me when you get the lights back on.”
I shone the light out into the pouring rain. It created a weak beam that showed me nothing but pounding water being whipped around by the wind. I took a deep breath and dashed into the rain. Icy blasts assaulted my face, and I was soaked by the time I located the electrical panel. I flipped every switch, but nothing made the lights go back on. The power was probably out from the storm, and there wasn’t anything I could do about that.
I held back a scream as lightning zapped in the sky above me. Almost immediately, heavy thunder shook the air around me.
Fuck this, and fuck the elephant. I slid and slipped my way back to the house. I needed to locate the damn thing and get the hell back to the hospital.
As I stepped into the darkness of my mother’s kitchen, my phone rang. It was Levi, and I had never been happier to see his name come up. It was a moment of weakness, but I was feeling so alone in my parent’s home, I answered.
“Hi.”
Without a greeting, his voice rumbled in my ear. “What hospital is your sister at?”
I walked across the kitchen, the flashlight casting long, eerie shadows. “How did you know—”
He cut me off. “Krista. What. Hospital.”
“The general hospital. Levi, what’s going on?”
“Stay there. I’m on my way.”
My heart jumped at the thought of seeing him. “What are you doing in Victoria? Did something happen with Buffalo?”
I heard him speak to the driver. “Take me to the general hospital.”
I interrupted him. “I’m not at the hospital. I’m at my parent’s house, but I should be back there soon.”
“What is the address of your parent’s place?”
I wasn’t sure what he was doing in Victoria, but I needed to find and get this damn elephant back to my sister. I shone the flashlight over the kitchen table. “If you head to the hospital, I can meet you there. I’m just grabbing something. What are you doing here?”
He spoke in a calm voice. “Give me your address.”
“I’m at…” My foot shot out from beneath me on the wet floor. A squeak escaped me as I flailed backward. The flashlight and my phone flew out of my hands. I heard a sharp crack when the flashlight hit the floor, and then I was plunged into complete darkness.
“Shit.” I winced as I crouched down and felt with my hand along the wet floor.
With relief, my hand closed around the handle of the flashlight. I whacked the side twice and the beam came back on. I found my phone, lying facedown in a puddle of water. When I flipped it over, it was dead.
“Come on,” I complained to no one.
My parents were among the few people who still had a landline. I limped over to the phone on the wall to call Levi back. I swore when the phone had no dial tone, mostly because it made me feel even more alone.
Levi would probably head to the hospital. I felt a surge of renewed motivation to get back there myself. Why is he in Victoria? I shone the flashlight around the kitchen sink. My heart beat at the thought of seeing him. I should find some dry clothes before I go back to the hospital. We had been in the middle of cooking dinner when my sister had gone into labor. As I shone the flashlight over the half-chopped food on the counter and pots that sat, full and cold, on the stovetop, it reminded me of a scene from a horror movie.
“Stop it,” I said out loud to myself. “Just get the job done.”
My call with Levi bothered me. It wasn’t his cryptic conversation but rather his tone.
I looked in the television room. Then I searched the sitting room.
Suddenly I realized what had bugged me about the conversation. Levi had been too calm. The kind of calm you use when you’re trying not to panic someone.
I swallowed hard before I moved upstairs and pushed open the door of Helene’s bedroom.
Why had Levi been so determined to get my location?
I shone the light on Helene’s nightstand.
I should get out of here. Just find the damn elephant.
My emotions warred with my logic. I walked through her bathroom and found her chain next to the tub.
“Gotcha.” I grabbed it and put it in my pocket. A noise behind me made me spin around with my heart in my throat. A bloodcurdling scream ripped out of me.
Eduard stared at me without emotion, menacing in the beam of my flashlight. “You got married.”
Fear spiked through me. Terrible, heart-pounding fear. “That’s old news.”
He looked down at the heavy flashlight in his hands. “Do you want to tell me why I had to find out you got married while watching the news? I realized that you kept this from me. For months.”
It terrified me that he was speaking like we were still in a relationship. When had he gotten so scary? I tried to find the words to appease him. “It was a mistake. We immediately filed for divorce.”
He didn’t blink. “You were afraid. Afraid of what would happen when I heard that news.”
I hated the begging note in my voice. “I was drugged. I don’t remember that night or the decisions we made, but the moment I found out about it, I worked to reverse my mistake.”
“That’s not good enough.”
I tried to think of anything that would make him back away. I needed to distract him from my relationship with Levi. “Helene’s in labor. Your daughter is currently being born in the hospital. It doesn’t matter how you feel about my sister, but this is your child.”
“Your sister was only a means to get your attention. The baby was her doing. I never would have agreed to that.”
“You’re becoming a father tonight.”
“I won’t be that child’s father. I’m merely your sister’s sperm donor. We both got what we wanted out of that relationship.”
I edged away from the tub, taking minuscule steps towards the door. I needed to keep him talking. “What did you get out of it?”
“Let’s just say it wasn’t what I expected.”
I tried to imagine what Eduard would want to hear from me. “I was so selfish. I was only thinking about myself and not about us. And I wrecked everything.”
He stood there and looked at me with a cold expression. “You’re trying to manipulate me.”
I swallowed hard and lied again. “No, I’m not.”
“This wasn’t some mistake. You continued to fuck him.”
I had no idea how he knew this. “Excuse me?”
He scoffed. “Did you think I wouldn’t find out?”
My heart thudded hard. He shouldn’t know these things. “How do you know that?”
“You just told me,” he snarled.
The sting of his slap caught my breath. On instinct, I swung my flashlight and felt it graze across the side of his temple. He grunted in surprise, but it was only an ineffective, glancing blow. It did throw him off-ba
lance, however, giving me the seconds I needed to flee. I tore down the back staircase that led to the kitchen, but in the dark, it felt like I was moving in slow motion. I gasped, holding the walls of the staircase as I counted the steps down. I could hear the pounding of his heavy footsteps, so close behind me. I spilled into the kitchen and managed to slip and slide my way around the corner to the dining room. He managed to grab onto the sleeve of my jacket, but the slick fabric made it possible for me to yank out of his hold. I had the advantage of knowing my parents’ home and the fact that my mother hadn’t rearranged her furniture in thirty years. I wound my way into the living room, weaving around chairs and tables as I worked my way towards the front main staircase.
I heard a loud crash behind me as I pounded my way up, clutching the heavy banister. I should have gone out the front door. I flew through my parents’ bedroom and came out through the laundry room. He was coming after me with tremendous speed, and whatever he was running into behind me wasn’t slowing him down.
I need to get to my car.
I hesitated as I decided between the front or back staircase, but I was closer to the front. I was almost back at the top of the landing when he tackled me. The weight of him landing on top of me, knocked the breath completely out of my body, leaving me gasping for air.
He flipped me over and then his hands, so bony and hard, were around my neck. My hands flailed at his face, scratching and clawing.
He smiled down at me, his features barely distinguishable in the dark. “Oh, I’m going to enjoy this.”
I frantically reached behind me in the dark, and then my fingers curled around something cold and hard. All I needed to do was connect it with Eduard’s head.
Chapter Thirty
Levi
A few moments earlier
“Krista, Krista!” I repeated into my phone, and I swore when I saw the call had been disconnected. She had made a scared little noise right before I heard a thump, and then everything went dead.
I needed an address.
The cab’s windshield wipers were on high, but they were ineffective against the downpour of rain that sluiced on the windshield.
The driver spoke, “Miserable night, hey?”
Ignoring him, I scrolled through my phone. It took precious moments to find the number to the main switchboard of the hospital. Then I had to wait while I was transferred to the maternity ward. I wanted to punch something when the nurse put me on hold to go get Krista’s mom.
“Come on, come on!” I growled into my phone.
The driver continued to talk, seemingly oblivious to my agitation. “I heard that half of Victoria has lost power. Most people have generators, but you can’t use most of them when it’s this windy.”
“Hello?” Bea’s voice sounded on the other end of the line.
“Bea.” I worked to even my tone. “This is Levi, and I don’t have time to explain, but Krista is in trouble. I need your home address.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she snapped. “Who is this?”
“Levi. Krista’s husband. Your soon to be ex-son-in-law,” I shot back. “Tell me your address.”
“Now listen to me—”
I cut her off. “Bea, do you want to bitch at me or do you want me to save her life?”
I could hear her suck in her breath on the other end of the line while she processed that.
“The address, Bea. Now,” I blasted at her.
“7942 Grouse Lane. Tell me what’s going on.”
I hung up on her and spoke to the driver. “7942 Grouse Lane. This is an emergency.”
He didn’t seem to hear me. He peered through his windshield. “I heard the storm will blow over later tonight.”
I leaned forward. “I’ll give you five hundred dollars if you get me there in the next five minutes.”
The driver looked at me in his rearview mirror, hearing me for the first time. “Why didn’t you say so?”
“I’m telling you now.”
“Put your seat belt on.”
He made it there in six minutes, and I tossed him the money before I bolted through the rain up the steps of the house.
The front door was ajar, and the entire place was dark.
“Krista?” I called out as I stepped inside.
I listened but heard nothing.
I turned on the flashlight of my phone and started towards the kitchen when I heard a thump above me.
“Levi,” I heard her voice above me. A second later, I heard heavy footsteps pounding down the back steps.
I didn’t even debate going after whoever was fleeing the scene. My only concern was finding Krista safe.
“Krista,” I yelled as I took the front steps up to the top landing. I found her sitting just inside a bedroom.
I touched her face, her head, her shoulders. “Are you okay?”
Her entire body was trembling. “Eduard attacked me.”
My entire body went still as I thought about all the ways I would damage the man.
“He took off.” She coughed. “After I hit him in the head with something.”
I reached into my back pocket. “I’m calling the police.”
I knew it was serious when she didn’t even try to stop me.
An hour later, I stood on the front lawn. Krista sat in the back of the police car as an officer asked her questions.
Another cop walked by carrying a box of something from the house.
“How much longer?” I asked him.
“The house is clear, and the power’s gone back on. You can go inside and start cleaning up if you want.”
I didn’t give a shit about the house. “Any idea where Eduard is?”
He shrugged. “We put a BOLO on the ferries and the airports. He won’t get far.”
I turned my attention back to the cop car, where Krista sat talking.
I wanted to kill Eduard.
Finally, the police car backed out of the driveway, and Krista walked towards me.
Without speaking, she stepped straight into my arms and leaned against me. My heart squeezed hard when she let out a big, shuddery breath.
“Krista,” I said with emotion.
“I don’t want to talk about it.” Her voice was muffled against my chest.
I rubbed her back and felt her shiver. “You’re cold. We should go back inside.”
She lifted her head and rested her chin adorably on my chest so she could stare up at me. “Why are you in Victoria?”
“Tonight, Brody told me during a fight that he wasn’t responsible for releasing the video.”
She blinked at me. “And you believed him?”
“He seemed shocked that I thought it was him. I figured it had to be Eduard. When I found out you were here for the birth, I figured he’d be here too. I needed to make sure you were okay.”
She held my gaze before she spoke. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” I never wanted to let go of her again.
Then she said slowly, “Eduard didn’t release the video.”
I didn’t believe that for a second. “How do you know?”
“He was ranting about how he found out about our marriage while watching the news, and he wasn’t happy about it.”
That made no sense. “Are you sure?”
I ignored my pinging phone.
“What is it?” she demanded, sounding more like herself.
I glanced at my phone before putting it away. “Buffalo figured out I’m no longer in Vancouver.”
She stepped out of my arms. “You didn’t tell them you were coming here?”
I shrugged. “Whatever.”
“Levi, what are they saying?”
They had figured out I had left Vancouver and wanted to help me rejoin the team. I knew they were bending over backwards for me, but I couldn’t seem to give a shit. “They’re trying to arrange a flight for me from Victoria so I can meet up with them in Edmonton.”
She let out a long breath. “You have to go.”
&
nbsp; Everyone had their limits. And I’d reached mine. I was done living apart from Krista. “Do I?”
She stayed silent.
“I never should have gone to Buffalo.”
“You had to.”
I shook my head slowly. “No, I didn’t. And I regretted that decision from the moment I got on that plane.”
“You can’t throw away your career. You’re just getting started.”
“I did it to help you, but leaving you was a mistake.” I was trying and make her understand how I felt about her. “I never should have signed those divorce papers.”
Pure emotion washed over her face. She lifted her fingers to my lips to hush me. “Stop.”
I kissed the tips of her fingers. “We have to talk about it.”
Tears filled her eyes and threatened to spill. “Not yet.”
I grabbed her hand. “I want to move back. I want to be with you.”
“I refuse to be part of killing your dream.” She sounded stubborn.
Frustration rolled over me. “You’re more important than hockey.”
“You say that now, but how do I know you’re going to feel like that five years from now?”
I stared at her in bewilderment. “My feelings aren’t going to change.”
She pulled her hand from mine and crossed her arms. “If you get back with the Vancouver Wolves next year, I’ll be here.”
I jerked back at her terms. “That’s harsh. You only want to date me if I’m a hockey player?”
“No! I want you to have options.”
I hadn’t anticipated that she’d refuse me again, now that I’d returned to her side. I struggled to bolster my argument. “What about Eduard?”
“What about him?”
“The guy’s deranged, and he’s running loose.”
She angrily wiped her wet cheek with the back of her sleeve. “I’ll handle it.”
“Not without me.”
She lifted her chin. “I can handle him.”
I couldn’t bear the thought of leaving her again. “Why don’t you come with me?”
She hesitated, and I knew she was tempted, but then she shook her head. “I’ve got my own stuff to take care of.”
