SEAL'd Heart

by Alice Ward

  I pushed my sunglasses further against my face, hoping I’d done a good enough job disguising myself. Just as I took a left, I saw the car coming around the block. Keeping my face directed at the traffic, I squinted through the windshield. The man in the car also wore sunglasses, but had a full head of dark hair. So it wasn’t the man from the black SUV.

  I gulped. One man. Two men. Just how many people were following me and my friends?

  He drove past me, completely oblivious as to my true identity.

  Knowing circling the block would give me away, I pulled into a nearby McDonald’s and parked facing the street.

  “We need to catch him,” I explained into the phone, quickly spreading out a map of the neighborhood in my mind.

  “Okay,” Evie answered.

  “I think there’s a parking garage right down here, like half a block away. My car should make it there.”

  “Okay,” she repeated and I heard her start the car. “That’s weird... the temperature thingy is fine now. I bet your gauge is messed up. That happened to me about a year ago. Something screwy with the wiring.”

  “You don’t see any steam coming from the front?”

  “Nope. And the temperature is normal too.”

  I sagged in my seat. One less thing to worry about. “If it does it again, let me know, okay? For now, head to the garage. I’ll be right behind you, so don’t worry.”

  A second passed.

  “Okay. I’m going now.”

  At this point, my pulse pounded so loudly its noise blocked out almost all my thoughts. It was good. I didn’t need to be thinking. I needed to be doing. Cristiano’s safety depended on it.

  My left hand drifted down to touch the gun at my side.

  “I’m not going to need it,” I promised myself. “I’m not going to need it.”

  But over my dead body would I walk into that parking garage unprepared. No matter how much I tried to reinvent myself, when it came to some things, I would always be a soldier through and through.

  The silver car came back around the block and followed Evie. The plan wasn’t perfect. I didn’t know if the driver would take the bait and follow Evie into the parking garage. When he did, I took in a sharp breath. This was for real now.

  “Park on the first level, near the back,” I instructed Evie. “And stay in the car. Lock your door and get your head down.”

  “Blaire—”

  “Evie. Seriously. Just do it.”

  “Blaire.”

  “Just do it!”

  She shut up and drove the car to where I’d told her to. The silver car went with her, and I followed as far behind as I dared.

  In the very back of the garage only a few spots remained open. Evie parked in the one closest to the far corner, and the silver car innocuously pulled into one across from her and down six or so spots.

  Sweat slicked my brow and adrenaline pumped in my veins, pushing me forward. I hit the gas and turned the wheel, taking Evie’s car to a screeching halt behind the silver car. With the vehicle blocked in, the driver had nowhere to go, unless he got there on foot.

  Quick as a whip, I threw the door open and dropped to the concrete floor. Sprinting in a crouched position, I ran for the far side of the car parked next to the silver Honda. I grabbed the Glock as I went, pulling it out of the holster.

  “Get out of the car!” I yelled, positioning the gun on the front hood of the car I hid behind.

  The man in the Honda didn’t move. Though his windows were rolled up, I knew he heard me.

  “Raise your hands!” I shouted, louder this time.

  A long second ticked by, and then another. Suddenly the Honda shot backwards, knocking Evie’s car out of the way. A horrible screech of metal filled the space. Evie’s car got knocked to the side, its front spinning around to where its tail had been only a moment before. The Honda took off, one end of its bumper dangling down and dragging against the ground. Sparks flew from the contact of metal on concrete, and the Honda bounced up as it hit a speed bump.

  I stood up and took aim at the tires, then let a round loose. The Honda went on, turning around the curve in the parking garage and disappearing.

  I wanted to scream. I wanted to punch something.

  But there was no time for any of that.

  “Blaire!” Evie yelled.

  She stood next to the open door of my car, her mouth open wide.

  “We have to get out of here,” I breathlessly said. “The police...”

  Her jaw still hung open. “I...”

  “The police!” I repeated. “Follow me.”

  Finally, she turned and got in my car. I threw myself into her own beat up vehicle and prayed as I turned the keys. The engine roared to life, but judging by the awful choking sound it made, its days were now numbered.

  I pushed the car as much as I dared, taking it out to the street. My hands shook against the steering wheel, and I frantically surveyed the block for signs of flashing lights.

  What was I thinking? There are cameras in there. Every parking garage has cameras now.

  Which meant they’d seen me shooting off the gun. They’d gotten my license plate... Evie’s license plate.

  “Fuck!” I screamed at the windshield.

  I took the quickest route I knew out of the city, which just happened to be the one Cristiano took on our first date. I pushed the thoughts of that night away. How had things gotten so screwed up so fast? All I’d wanted was to get to know him better, to get a chance at real love. And now I was shooting at stalkers and running from the police.

  When the seedy outskirts appeared, I started looking for a place to stop. It wasn’t easy to find, but an old building that looked like it had been a mechanic’s garage in its past life popped up. I drove Evie’s car over the cracked parking lot riddled with weeds and took it behind the building, making sure to park it out of sight.

  Evie exited the car five seconds behind me, the car door slamming behind her as she clambered out.

  “Evie,” I began. “I’m so sorry about your car.”

  She waved her hands like she was furious and started to say something, but nothing came from her mouth but an exasperated sound.

  “I’m sorry about all of this,” I continued, pacing across the dilapidated lot strewn with trash and scraps of old clothes. “I shouldn’t have gotten you involved. I put you in real danger. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

  I whipped the scarf off my head and dropped it before raking my fingers through my hair, desperately trying to find an answer as to how to get out of this whole mess. Somewhere not so far away, sirens sounded. My stomached tightened. Were they for us?

  “The car has insurance,” Evie said. “It can be fixed.”

  We both looked at the indented side of the hood, the mirror there dangling by a thread.

  “Or I can get another one,” Evie added. “Insurance will cover that.” She blew out a sharp breath. “Blaire, that was crazy. But at least we’re okay.”

  I planted my hands on my hips and swiveled to face her. “No, we’re not okay. There are probably security cameras all over that parking garage.”

  Her eyes went wide. “Oh.”

  I gulped. “Yeah.”

  “Then why did you...?”

  “I don’t know!” I wailed. “I wasn’t thinking. I was trying not to think. I just want to protect Cristiano... to protect... to make this whole thing go away.”

  “But the police,” Evie whispered.

  “I’ll take the blame for it, Evie. If they come to you, tell them exactly what happened. There’s no use lying, and you didn’t do anything wrong.”

  Evie slowly shook her head. “I’m not abandoning you.”

  “This isn’t your fight.”

  “But what about you? You’re just going to give up? I mean, what can they charge you with? You shot at that guy in the parking garage. Can you go to jail?”

  I bit my bottom lip. “I don’t know. But that was definitely reckless behavior in the
eyes of the law.” I ran two sweaty palms over my face.

  “Maybe you could, you know... leave.” She winced as she said it, like she knew just what a crazy suggestion it was.

  “And let this all go? Forget about Cristiano?”

  One of her shoulders lifted the slightest amount. “If this is all about him, then it’s kind of his problem. I mean, he’s just a guy you only just started dating.”

  I stared her down. “He’s more than that.”

  Evie gazed back, absorbing the weight of my words. “Okay... but is anyone worth this?”

  “He is.” I gave her a look to let her know this part of the conversation was closed.

  “Maybe, maybe if you have enough evidence, or just a good enough story, you’ll be good with the police.”

  “I don’t know.” I shook my head. “I need to think about one thing at a time. I can’t do anything more than that.”

  “You got the car’s license plate, right? And you saw the driver?”

  “I saw him, but he looked like every other middle aged white guy in America. But yes, I have the license plate number. I can look up the car’s records online.”

  Evie pulled out her phone. “We’ll do it now.”

  “No.” I took a step towards her and rested my hands on her shoulders to look her squarely in the eye. “You can’t have any more part in this. I’ve already screwed up enough. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  “But what am I supposed to do? Just go home?”

  “Yes,” I emphatically said. “Go home and lock all your doors and windows. Better yet, don’t go there. Don’t even go back there to get stuff. Can you stay at someone else’s place?”

  Her eyelashes fluttered. “Um, my aunt and uncle’s. Yeah, I’m sure I can.”

  “Go there. If you need your phone charger or whatever, don’t go back for it.”

  She looked over my shoulder. “What about our cars?”

  I sucked in a sharp breath. “Just take mine with you. It’ll look even worse if we try and hide this. I’m going to run that license plate and then go to the police. Wait for me to call you.”

  Her lips pursed. “Okay.”

  “Good.”

  I pulled her into a fierce hug then quickly let her go. She climbed back in my car and drove around the run down garage back to the street.

  I did another quick survey of the area, checking to see if anyone had been watching us. On the left sat a car wash and on the right a chain fast food place, and neither one of the spots exactly bustled with activity. We seemed to be good at least on that front.

  Pulling up the browser on my phone, I went to one of the websites you can run license plates on. The most that would come up would be the vehicle’s history, but it was a decent place to start. Maybe I could find out the name of whoever owned it.

  I held my breath as I typed out the numbers and letters and then waited for the page to load.

  An angry rasp left my throat. “Damn it.”

  There was no registered vehicle for that plate. It had been a fake.

  Dejected, I climbed back in Evie’s rattling car. It getting me to the nearest police station was at least slightly possible. But I wasn’t going there first.

  A sick feeling sat in my stomach, telling me I needed to go back to Cristiano’s. Though I was ashamed, I needed to tell him about what happened, needed to come clean. Then I needed to share my plan with him.

  It was the only way I could move forward.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  If my entire world hadn’t been shaking around like a snow globe, I would have been ashamed to hand the keys to Evie’s half crushed car over to the valet at Cristiano’s. Instead, I didn’t so much as look at the man’s face. I beat it to the elevator, taking a ride that seemed to last way too long up to the top floor.

  Cristiano’s floor. His home. In a way, it already seemed like my home and not just because I’d been staying there for the last few days but because he made me feel so welcome.

  I blinked back the tears as I opened the front door. So this whole thing was the other shoe, the one I’d been afraid would one day drop. But instead of it being about some petty issue like jealousy or mixed obligations, it was about our right to live without being constantly harassed.

  Voices made me halt in the foyer. One of them was Cristiano’s, speaking in a hushed tone. The other was a female’s. I held my breath to listen better.

  Evie.

  Speeding up my steps, I catapulted myself into the kitchen. They sat at the island, facing each other, Evie’s hands wrapped around a mug of what was probably some hot beverage brewed or steeped with the intention of comforting her.

  At the sight of me, both of their backs straightened.

  “What’s going on?” I asked. “Evie, I told you to go to your aunt and uncle’s.”

  Evie’s eyes fell closed like she was tired. When she opened them, there was a look of pity in their depths. “Blaire, I told Cristiano about what happened.”

  My mouth fell open, then snapped closed before falling open again. “You didn’t have to come here for that. I was going to tell him myself...”

  Cristiano stood up from his stool. “What were you thinking?”

  My throat constricted. “I was thinking... that I would do whatever I needed to do to protect you.”

  His shoulders sagged. “Oh, Blaire.” He sounded just as tired as Evie seemed.

  “I know what I did was reckless,” I quickly explained. “And I was stupid to get someone else involved, but now I need to get to the bottom of this. I’m going to the police.”

  Cristiano’s head cocked. “I don’t know if they’ll be of much help.”

  “I have to try. There are no other options. They’re coming for me anyway. Once they get hold of the footage from that parking garage—”

  “There is no footage.”

  I stared at him. “What?”

  “Or at least there soon won’t be. I’ve already taken care of it. The tapes will be destroyed.”

  All I could do was continue to stare. I waited for further explanation, but Cristiano didn’t seem to feel he needed to offer it.

  “B-but how?” I sputtered.

  His jaw ticked. “It was... fairly easy.”

  He’d paid someone off. Of course... and all in the twenty or so minutes that he and Evie had been there without me. Maybe if I hadn’t taken the long way to his place in an attempt to evade the main roads, I would have walked in on whatever phone call was needed to take care of things.

  The room sat in silence, both Evie and Cristiano watching me.

  “No footage,” I repeated. Relief washed over me, but a second later, it dissipated. The other matter, the primary and original problem, still remained.

  I felt like I needed to sit down. I swayed on my feet but didn’t move. If I tried to take so much as a step, my knees could very well buckle.

  “Th-the people,” I blustered. “They’re still out there. And who knows what they’ll do next? Cristiano, we don’t know what they want, and they know we’re on to them. That’s bad. That’s really bad.”

  Cristiano came closer and took one of my hands in his. “We’ll leave. We can get out of Chicago. I can go anywhere I want to, Blaire. I’m not tied here.”

  I’m not tied here. The words echoed in my head.

  “Maybe you’re not.” My tongue felt thick in my mouth. “But it’s not so easy for me.”

  His face darkened.

  “I want to go,” I quickly said, “God, I want to. But there’s Evie, there’s my mom... and others. If we leave, these men might just go after the people we love.”

  Cristiano shook his head. “I just don’t get what they could be after. I have no—”

  I interrupted him. “You still don’t believe me?”

  His lips pursed. “Teresa would have told me.”

  “Have you talked to her since I told you what I found out?”

  He hesitated. “No.”

  I shook my head, hardl
y able to believe his stubbornness. “Even with what’s happening, you can’t believe it.”

  His mouth tightened. “We’re done talking about that, Blaire. What’s important is that we’re all safe.”

  “We all get safe when you decide to face the truth!”

  I took a step away from him, my hands shaking. “I don’t want to do this,” I whispered. “We can’t fight. We can’t turn against each other. Not now.”

  Cristiano’s nostrils flared. “I need to go out for a while. I’ll be back soon. We can talk more then.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Evie, feel free to stay here if you decide not to go to your aunt and uncle’s. It would probably be for the best.”

  “Okay,” she rasped. “Thanks.”

  Cristiano stormed past me without another look my way. Half a minute later, the front door slammed.

  I looked at Evie sitting immobile on her stool like an ice sculpture. “Why doesn’t he believe me?”

  “He’s in denial.”

  I sputtered and shut my eyes. “Denial?”

  “I think so,” she softly said. I opened my eyes back up to see her sad smile. “Based off of everything you told me. You know, the way he feels about his mom and all. Didn’t he say he’s not ready to forgive her? Well, maybe that makes the prospect of actually meeting her terrifying.”

  “I never said anything about him meeting her,” I quickly said.

  “Yeah, but if Cristiano knows about his lost identity, won’t that make it easier for him to find his mom? She hasn’t forgotten who she is. So maybe she’s out there looking for him.”

  “Yeah,” I admitted. “We just don’t have time for him to be in denial. I mean, I understand his feelings and all, but this is a dreadful time to freak out. If he could put the strained processing aside, that would be great.”

  “Try telling him that.”

  I sighed and went to sit on Cristiano’s vacated stool. “Are you okay?” I asked her. “Really?”

  She gave one quick nod. “Yeah, I am. Really.”

  “I got your car here without it falling apart.”

  “Let’s just hope you weren’t followed.”