Two (Count to Ten Book 2)

by Jane Blythe

  The basement was huge. It must have been almost the same size as the house. But it was dark. Too dark. And Sofia was scared of the dark. Her nanny always left the night-light on so her room wouldn’t be too dark. But that made shadows. She was almost as scared of shadows as she was of the dark.

  She crossed the basement on tippy-toes.

  Heading for the light.

  Just as she did every night.

  And just like every other night she wasn’t sure if she was dreaming or awake.

  Tucking her braids behind her ears and lifting her long white nightgown so it didn’t drag along the rough concrete floor, she kept heading for the light.

  She could hear voices.

  Arguing.

  They were always arguing, but she could never make out the words.

  She stopped as she always did at the door, peering through.

  Bright light splashed shadows across the other room and she shivered.

  Bad things happened down here. She was sure of it.

  Inside the room there were figures.

  Two of them.

  Arms waving wildly as they argued.

  On the floor there were sticks. Lots of sticks.

  She took a step inside the room.

  A hand clamped around her shoulder.

  Startled, she turned.

  “You’re dreaming, Sofia,” her father told her.

  As he picked her up, she looked over his shoulder one last time.

  There was red.

  Lots of red.

  Sofia knew the red was blood.

  Then she was screaming.

  And screaming.

  And screaming.

  Sofia woke up with a start. She was tangled in the covers, breathing harshly and sweating.

  She hated that dream.

  It had plagued her for as long as she could remember. And just like when she was a child, she was never sure if it was real or all a dream.

  She was alone in the room.

  Edmund must have gone home, and Isabella must have gone to get some sleep herself. Sofia hated waking up alone. Which was why Ryan promising that he’d be with her when she awoke, screaming and scared, and then leaving her, had upset her so much.

  But Edmund and Isabella were right. She could trust Ryan and she had been being unfair to him. She would have to make that right.

  Right now, however, she was hot and thirsty and even a little hungry. She needed something to eat and drink. And then some more sleep. Hopefully this time minus the nightmares. If she could get enough sleep, then maybe she could avoid the hospital tomorrow. Edmund would be as good as his word. If he didn’t think she was coping, he would take her straight to the hospital first thing in the morning, and make her stay there until she was better. Which could be never.

  Standing slowly, testing her legs, Sofia was pleased when, despite a small wobble, they held. Taking her time, she wound her way through hallway after hallway, passing empty bedroom after empty bedroom, on her way to the kitchen. As a child she had always wondered why a house needed so many bedrooms. The house had a total of one hundred and two, and yet she had never been allowed to have her friends come and sleep over.

  Sofia had been upset about that for a time, around her thirteenth birthday. She had screamed and sulked and whined and cried and begged. But it had done no good. Her father had told her that she would never be allowed to have any friend spend the night here, so she may as well stop asking. Always the good girl, she had stopped asking, but had continued to resent her father for it. Gloria, too. Her mother should have understood how important it was to a teenage girl to have sleepovers with her friends. A real mother would have understood. That Gloria didn’t care enough to stand up for her only served to remind a young Sofia just how little the woman loved her.

  Still, now wasn’t the time to be worrying about old grievances.

  Gloria was gone now. And so were two of her brothers. And her sisters-in-law. Plus, she’d almost lost her other brother. Not to mention that someone had tried to kill her, too.

  She stopped to take a break. Propping her back up against the wall, Sofia took a few deep breaths, as deep as she could manage with her broken ribs anyway. She needed to get away from here, before it was too late. In the morning she would get Isabella, and ask Edmund to take them both far, far away from this place. Then when things had calmed down she would come back and sort things out with Ryan.

  Her heart was telling her to fix things with Ryan first. But what good would it do to make things right with him only to end up dead? No, right now her priority had to be getting herself and her baby sister someplace safe.

  Forging onwards, she let out a small sigh of relief when she finally reached the kitchen. She wished that she’d asked Edmund to take her back to her own place earlier. The only reason she’d stayed was because of Isabella. She’d asked, begged, her sister to come home with her but Isabella had refused to leave the estate. So Sofia had stayed, hoping that the officers assigned to watch her and her father’s security people were enough to keep her alive until tomorrow.

  Something was wrong.

  Sofia could tell as soon as she entered the kitchen.

  A breeze was blowing.

  There shouldn’t be any breeze inside at this time of night.

  Glancing over, she saw that someone had left one of the doors open. Her chest tightened and a knot formed in the pit of her stomach.

  “Hello?” she called tentatively.

  There was no answer.

  She knew that she should stop. Call for help. Call for the officers watching her. Call Ryan or Edmund.

  But she didn’t.

  It was like her feet were possessed. Almost against her will, they walked her through the kitchen door. Scanning the shadows, remembering her dream, searching for anything that moved. Seeing nothing, her feet continued to walk her across the room. Around the island and finally she froze.

  On the floor lay a figure.

  The figure had a bag over its head.

  The figure wasn’t just anyone.

  It was Isabella.

  Her baby sister.

  Dead.

  Screaming, she flung herself down beside Isabella, grabbing at her frantically. Her shaking hands unable to do anything useful.

  Then gentle hands were on her, tugging her to her feet.

  She was still screaming. Struggling frantically against whoever was holding her. Trying desperately to get free. To get back to her sister.

  “Shh, it’s all right, Ms. Everette,” a calm voice soothed. “It’s me, Officer Parks.”

  Officer Parks, one of the officers guarding her. She remembered him. He was nice, sweet, had a new little baby at home. Sofia tried to calm herself with these facts. But she couldn’t. All she could focus on was her sister’s lifeless body.

  “It’s all right, Ms. Everette,” Officer Parks repeated. “She’s alive. Are you hearing me? Your sister is still alive. Try to calm down, you’re going to hurt yourself.”

  Abruptly, she went still. She would have crumpled to the floor if Officer Parks wasn’t holding her with an arm wrapped firmly across her waist.

  “I’ll call for an ambulance,” she heard Officer Sand announce, but his voice was faraway.

  “Better make it two,” Officer Parks added.

  She wondered briefly why they needed two ambulances.

  Then she fainted dead away in Officer Parks’ arms.

  AUGUST 19th

  12:13 A.M.

  He rushed through the hospital halls in a blind panic.

  Ryan hadn't taken a proper breath since Officer Parks had called to tell him there had been another murder attempt at the Everette estate, and that both Isabella and Sofia were being brought to the hospital by ambulance. It had taken the young officer a couple of attempts to finally convince him that Sofia was okay. That she had only fainted. That they were only bringing her to the hospital as a precaution because of her current medical condition.

  He halted as he roun
ded a corner and saw her.

  Sofia was sitting in a chair. Elbows propped up on her knees, head resting on her hands, her hair falling in thick red waves obscuring her face.

  Officers Parks and Sand were standing guard, a few feet away from her to give her some privacy. Officer Parks glanced his way and waved, gesturing to his partner before coming over to him.

  “Detective Xander, you didn’t have to come, she’s okay, they both are,” the young Officer explained.

  “I know, I just had to see her with my own eyes,” Ryan could feel his cheeks heating in embarrassment.

  The officer nodded understandingly, “Yeah, I get it.”

  “She's really okay?”

  “Doctor said she’s fine, that she can go home whenever she wants. She just passed out, which, given everything that’s going on is perfectly understandable.”

  Heart clenching, Ryan had to glance at Sofia to convince himself she really was all right. “She found Isabella?”

  “Uh huh. We heard her screaming, came running in, she was pretty hysterical, I had to pull her off the sister. She was crying and fighting me, didn’t stop until I told her that her sister was still alive. Then it was like she just mentally checked out. Went limp and fainted in my arms.”

  “How is Isabella?”

  “She’s fine, too. Doctors want to keep an eye on her for a couple more hours, and then she can go home too. You can take her statement anytime you want.”

  Exactly what Paige was on her way here to do. For the moment all Ryan could do was stare at Sofia and pray that she wasn’t going to be next on the killer’s list. She’d already survived one attempt; there were no guarantees she’d survive the next one. “Did you see anyone else on the estate?” he asked, trying to focus on his job and not the rock of fear in his stomach.

  “Just the private security guys. And the judge,” Officer Parks eyes darkened.

  “What?” Ryan raised a questioning brow.

  “We woke him up before we rode here in the ambulance with Ms. Everette, told him what had happened, asked him if he wanted to come with his daughters to the hospital. He said no. Said he was tired and didn’t want to get out of bed. That he needed a good night’s sleep. Said the girls would be fine without him.”

  “I hate that guy,” Ryan muttered.

  “Yeah, he’s a real piece of work,” Officer Parks agreed. “It’s almost a shame he turned out not to be the killer.”

  “All right, I'm going to leave...

  “You don’t want to talk to her first?” Officer Parks looked confused.

  “No. Don’t let her out of your sight,” he cautioned. “And if she wants to go home, please don’t take her back to the estate. Take her to her house, or her friend Edmund Kendall’s.”

  “Will do,” Officer Parks nodded, then headed back to join his partner.

  Ryan was about to turn to leave when Sofia suddenly lifted her head, her silver eyes brimmed with tears as she studied him. He didn’t move, and Sofia tentatively rose to her feet.

  Unsure whether he moved, or she moved, or they both moved. But the next thing Ryan knew Sofia was throwing herself into his arms, and he was holding her so tightly he was sure he must be hurting her.

  He pressed her face against his chest as she cried. “I'm sorry,” she mumbled through her tears.

  “I’m sorry,” he cradled her head in his hand, and drank in the feel of holding her again. Keeping her wrapped up in his arms until her tears finally eased to a few hiccupping gulps, Ryan gently guided her back to the chair she’d been sitting in, and eased her back down into it. Crouching beside her so he could look up into her face. “Are you okay?”

  She nodded, but her eyes were haunted.

  Brushing away a lock of hair that was stuck to her wet cheeks. “Oh, baby, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry that I made all of this worse for you.” Ryan felt sick that he had added to her pain at the worst possible time.

  Shaking her head. “I'm sorry. I pushed you away because I was scared. I'm sorry, Ryan. I acted like a spoiled brat. I was unfair to you. You were just doing your job, I understand that.”

  He was a little alarmed by how weak she sounded. “No, cupcake, you have nothing to be sorry about. I didn’t handle things well. I should have woken you and explained the situation. I shouldn’t have made decisions for you, I know you don’t like that, I won't make that mistake again.”

  A small smile lit her face. “So, you forgive me?”

  “Only if you forgive me,” he smiled back, and cupped her face in his hand, gently stroking her cheekbone with his thumb.

  “Can you take me home, Ryan?” she asked as she tilted her face further into his hand.

  “The estate is going to be crawling with CSU and officers,” he reminded her, avoiding saying that he never wanted her to set foot on that property again.

  “No, I meant my home,” she corrected.

  He was concerned by the dark smudges under her eyes, and her virtually colorless face. “Maybe you should spend the night here,” he suggested. “Let the doctors make sure you’re really okay.”

  He expected her to protest, but instead she nodded wearily, “I am a little tired,” she acknowledged. “Maybe staying here isn’t so bad an idea.” Then her bottom lip began to tremble, and fresh tears filled her eyes. “I was so scared, Ryan. I thought she was dead.”

  “But she’s okay,” he reassured her. “Because of you. Did you see anyone?”

  Not to be placated, Sofia continued, “But what if I had been just a couple of minutes slower getting to the kitchen? Isabella would be dead right now.”

  Applying gentle pressure to her back, he rubbed small circles, trying to get her to focus. “Honey, did you see anything?”

  “Just Isabella. Lying there. I almost lost her. Another member of my family was almost gone. And Isabella, she’s the only member of my family that I know actually loves me,” she blinked, sending the tears spilling down her pale cheeks.

  His heart was breaking for her. “Oh, cupcake,” he pulled her into his arms and let her cry it out.

  When her tears were spent, she rested against him. “I always wanted to find my biological mother,” she murmured against his shoulder. “Maybe now would be a good time.”

  “If that’s what you want, then I’ll help you,” rubbing her back to help calm her.

  “I always wondered what she was like,” voice faraway, detaching herself from a reality she couldn’t deal with right now. “I wondered if my mom was like Brooke. A young teenage girl, alone and looking for a better life, seduced by the judge, then pressured into giving me up. I always believed that she really wanted me, but that the judge took advantage of her. Do you think that’s what happened?” she looked up at him with all the fragile vulnerability of a small child.

  “Maybe, cupcake.” If that was what she needed to believe right now, then he wasn’t going to burst her bubble by bringing up any other possibilities. “Sweetheart, look at me for a moment,” he waited until she lifted her head. “I need you to focus, can you do that for me?”

  Struggling to sit herself back up properly in her chair, she nodded.

  He took her hands, “How do you know that Isabella is Brooke and your father’s daughter?”

  Brow crinkling in confusion, “I already told you. I saw Brooke giving birth to her, my father was there.”

  “That doesn’t mean he’s the father,” he said gently.

  He could see the possibility had never occurred to her. “I . . . I guess,” Sofia stammered. “But Isabella looks just like him. If not him, then who?”

  “Isabella isn’t the only who looks like your father,” he waited for her to connect the dots for herself.

  Ryan could tell the exact moment when it clicked because her face seemed to somehow pale further. “One of my brothers,” she murmured. Then met his gaze, hers stricken, “Logan?”

  He nodded, “Could that be a possibility?”

  She was shaking now. “I guess. He was sleeping with her recentl
y so I guess he could have been back then, too.” Eyes going vacant, “You think he’s the killer,” she mumbled tonelessly.

  Squeezing her hands to bring her back into the moment, Ryan asked, “Do you think Logan could be the killer?”

  “I was scared of him when I was little,” her voice had dropped to a mere whisper and he had to strain to hear her.

  His gut tightened, “Why?”

  She didn’t answer. Didn’t even appear to have heard him.

  Taking her shoulder, he gave her a firm but gentle shake. “Why were you scared of him, Sofia?”

  Her eyes still unfocused, she answered, “He would yell at me. Over anything. Even small things like me leaving my coat on the floor or my toys lying about. I . . . I tried to avoid him as best I could.”

  “Sofia? Did Logan ever hurt you, or . . .” forcing himself to say the words, “or touch you inappropriately?”

  She flinched as though he’d slapped her. “No. No,” she repeated, her cloudy eyes finally clearing. “No, he just yelled, but it was enough to scare me. He’s out there somewhere, isn’t he? He ran away from the hospital, so he’s out there somewhere, and he’s still trying to kill us.”

  Letting out a relieved breath, although Ryan still suspected there was more to it than she was admitting. “Shh,” he attempted a smile, but hated the fear that laced her voice, he didn’t want Sofia to be afraid ever again. “I don’t want you to worry about your brother right now. I'm not going to be leaving your side anytime soon, and Officer Parks and Officer Sand are right here, too. You’re safe.”

  Sofia looked empty, she leaned forward so she could wrap her arms around his waist, and rest her head against his shoulder. “Tell me about your family,” she pleaded.

  He settled her against his chest. “We were a pretty normal family. My parents were great, happily married, and fabulous role models for us...”

  “That’s nice,” she whispered. “You were lucky.”

  “Yeah,” he agreed, wishing that he’d always seen it that way and not taken his parents for granted most of his life. “I have two brothers,” he continued. “One older, Jack; he’s a detective too. And one younger, Mark; the only one of us boys who’s married. I have four little nephews and nieces. One of whom has had a tough time with leukemia lately . . .”