Redeeming Love (Resilient Hearts #2)

by Ashley Cassidy

  “Get the hell out of here, Imran,” I scream into the hallway. “I’m not the scared little girl I was back then anymore. There are cameras and security staff all over this place. They’ll be on your tail in a matter of seconds.”

  Imran’s eyes turn to ice, as he takes a few purposeful strides toward me. I start backing away until I feel the outline of my front door against my back.

  “Quit screaming. No one will hear you. I’ve done my research. This place is well insulated. Your lobby attendant who is also the guy that checks the security cameras had to run to an emergency and his backup won’t be here for another couple of hours. I’m not stupid. I’ve been following you around and planning this for months. You have your head so stuck up that pretty boy’s butt you stupidly think wants you for anything other than a rumble in the sheets that you can’t see anything else. It was easy to plan this... Now that I’m here, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. That’s your choice.” He says as he presses his filthy body against mine.

  I almost throw up the moment his body touches mine.

  “Now be a good girl and open the door,” he says, flashing me the sharp edge of the knife he’s holing in his right hand. My whole body starts shaking as vivid memories of the sting of the cut he gave me last year and what happened afterwards come back like a surging flood.

  I shake my head repeatedly as I try to purge my mind of the images. I need to get my body in control and my mind sharp if I want to survive this. I try to remember the couple of lessons I learned this week in self defense class. I notice he’s close enough that I can easily lift my knee up and hit him where it hurts the most. I force my legs to stop shaking and take a deep breath before putting as much force as I can into my raising knee.

  He dodges at the last minute, but I still make contact. He grabs his crutch in pain as shock and anger registers on his face. I take a momentary breather, trying to focus on what to do next, when I feel the first sting.

  The screams that leave my throat then are not to get attention or try to get help. They’re from pure excruciating pain. They come one after another, the pain so severe that I lose my balance. When I see blood rushing out and soaking my shirt, I can’t help closing my eyes. I feel blackout taking over and the quiet stillness is a welcomed relief.

  TWENTY-FOUR

  AIDEN

  I hear the rumble of a conversation in the background, but I can’t make out any of the words. Still something in the distant tone of Aleah’s voice has the hair in the back of my neck stand up, as my heart starts pounding rapidly against my chest. Something about this seems off. Aleah wouldn’t just drop her phone and stop talking to me without saying a word. I start yelling through the phone, hoping to get an answer that dispels my worries.

  “Aleah, what’s wrong? Who is that?”

  She keeps talking to the guy, ignoring me completely.

  “Aleah, baby? Say something. What’s going on?” I shout louder.

  Still nothing.

  That’s when I hear her shout at him.

  And my heart spots beating.

  I hear the name she calls him then. And I see red, my blood coming to an instant boil at the mention of his name.

  I realize then that he has her cornered. And I lose it.

  I scramble up to my feet, almost tripping on my own shoes in the process. I’m out of my door and running towards my car in a matter of seconds. I get behind the wheel, but I don’t see anything in front of me, other than the images of Aleah being attacked by that bastard.

  I try to shake my head to force my brain to work. The phone! I’m still holding the phone. I bring it back up and try to squeeze it against my ear as hard as I can so I can hear what’s going on. I hear a rumble and then a loud thud. The voices sound more distant then. She must have dropped the phone to the floor.

  That’s when she starts screaming, and I stop breathing. These are high pitched screams, ones that come from deep inside the belly, each one slicing a knife right through my heart.

  “No. No. No,” I find myself sobbing into the phone, as my whole body starts shaking uncontrollably.

  Think Aiden. Think. It will take me at least fifteen minutes to get to her place. As much as the thought pains me, it may be too late by then. I need to call the cops.

  But I need to hang up the phone with Aleah to be able to dial 911. I debate the decision momentarily and force myself to press the end button. The operator picks up quickly.

  “Help. Please help her,” I scream at her.

  “Sir, what’s the nature of your emergency? Who do we need to help?” she asks calmly.

  “My girlfriend. Please help her. She’s being attacked.” I yell the address into the phone, as I drive blindly through traffic. She starts asking more questions and I blurt out answers into the phone.

  “Just get to her, damn it,” I finally shout at her. “You’re losing precious time. Just get to her.” I beg her.

  “Dispatchers have already been sent, sir. But I need you to stay on the phone with me.”

  To hell with that. “Just get to her please.” I beg again, before hanging up and maneuvering through traffic lights and cars, breaking every traffic rule there is. The sound of Aleah’s screams rings in my ears all the way to her penthouse.

  As I pull into the entrance of her residential tower, I see Police and EMS cars and I pray urgently that they got there in time. A police car has blocked off the entrance, but I don’t pay any attention to it. I pull right up to it and park right in the middle of the road. I’m out of the car and running towards the building before anyone has a chance to say a word to me. I manage to get myself inside the lobby and only a few steps away from the elevator, before I’m stopped.

  “Sir, you need to step back. There’s an investigation occurring here at the moment. This is possibly the scene of a crime and we’re not letting anyone use the elevator,” the officer tells me sternly.

  “My girlfriend is up there. I’m the one who called this in. I need to get to her,” I say, as I push past him.

  He’s in front of me and blocking my way instantly.

  “Please step back, sir. If you called it in, then we have a few questions for you. Please come back to my car with me.”

  “Hell no,” I yell at him. “I’m not going anywhere until I see my girl.” I try to swerve around him, but another officer comes to his aid.

  That’s when I see the stretcher being taken towards the elevator from the EMS car and I lose it. The two officers have no chance against me as I push and shove my way towards the elevator. But before I make it there, they call for reinforcement and knock me down on the floor. Even then, the only way they can hold me down is by turning me on my stomach and handcuffing my hands. I still try to kick and fight against them.

  The only way they get me to stop is by threatening to tase me. But it’s not the fear of being tased that makes me hold back, it’s the realization that if I get arrested I’ll have no way of seeing Aleah for a while. That’s when I force myself to stop kicking and yelling. Instead, I start sobbing into the floor, like a little child. And then I do something I haven’t done ever since I found my mom passed out on the bathroom floor so many years ago. I pull my knees up and start praying fervently. God, please let her be okay, I beg over and over again. Please, please save my girl, I keep asking. I rock back and forth, as I whisper the words towards the sky.

  I don’t know how much time passes, but I’m eventually lifted off the floor. I’m about to be lead outside the building to a police car, when the elevator doors open. I see the stretcher being rolled outside, and I can’t help running towards it. I try to lounge for it, calling out to Aleah and praying fervently that she can hear me and respond. I don’t see any reaction from her. I can’t even see her face and the rest of her body is covered by a sheet. I try to reach for her motionless body, but I’m held back by the officers at my side.

  “Please let me go see her. Please. She’s my life, and I don’t know what he did to her.” Tears are rolli
ng down my cheeks at this moment and I don’t even recognize my own voice. One of the officers takes pity on me. He pats me on the shoulder. “Give the paramedics room to do what they need to do. You’re too distraught right now and will only make their work harder. We’ll let you go see her at the hospital, once they’re on the way.”

  This calms me down enough to not start kicking and yelling again, but it doesn’t ease the pain in my heart or the lingering feeling of guilt that is pooling at the bottom of my stomach. I should have been with her. This would have never happened, if I hadn’t abandoned her the past few days. It’s a Friday night. If I hadn’t been a jackass, we would be out having dinner at a nice restaurant and enjoying each other’s company. I was selfish, only seeing what I needed, and now she’s lying on a stretcher somewhere all by herself, hurt and alone and I have to stand back and watch them take her away. I feel like banging my head against the wall. Instead, I just sink to the floor and hold my head in my hands.

  TWENTY-FIVE

  AIDEN

  The officers let me go about fifteen minutes after Aleah’s taken away, with a stern warning that if I make any trouble at the hospital I’ll be arrested immediately. I promise to stay calm. I’ll do anything at this moment to be allowed to go to Aleah.

  I ask around to figure out which hospital she was taken to and as soon as I have the answer, I’m running towards my car. The car ride to there is a blur. I keep seeing the images of the stretcher being rolled away and I start to fear the worst. Moisture pools in my eyes as panic sets in the pit of my stomach. I press the gas pedal harder and make it there a few minutes later.

  I have to ask five different nurses and run around to three different nurse stations to get some information. Finally one of them finds her. She tells me Aleah is in surgery and my heart stops beating.

  “For what?” I ask her frantically.

  “Are you family?” She eyes me questioningly. “Sorry, sir. We can only give that kind of information to family members,” she says, before I even answer her question.

  “I am family,” I cut in.

  “What’s your relation?”

  “I’m her husband,” I blurt out.

  She narrows her eyes at me. “Pierson. Her last name is Pierson, so is mine,” I say as I pull out my driver’s license. She looks from the driver’s license to me and back, before she finally relents.

  “Okay. Go up to the third floor. There’s a waiting area, outside the surgery rooms. Wait there till the doctor comes out. He’ll be able to answer any questions you may have.”

  I’m running towards the elevator before the words are out of her mouth. I rush to the waiting area as if the room has all the answers I’m looking for. But when I get there, I find out that it offers nothing other than more agonizing wait. I collapse on a chair and glue my eyes to the door leading to the surgery rooms for a sign, any sign that Aleah is okay.

  When nothing happens for the next thirty minutes and I’m about to start pulling my hair out, I begin pacing the floors back and forth. With each stroke of the clock, I lose more of my mind. Why is it taking so long, I keep asking myself? What could have happened to cause such serious injuries? My eyes sting, my chest constricts, and my head is about to explode. I try to take a deep breath to get some air into my lungs, but I choke up instead. The image of Aleah’s lifeless body on the stretcher and the sounds of her excruciating screams keep playing over and over in my mind, until I can’t take the wait anymore. I fight the urge to kick in the door and tear down the walls to get to her. The only thing that keeps me from doing that is knowing that it won’t do her any good. I slide down the wall to the floor and start begging the universe to intervene and save my girl, when I spot a doctor walking towards me. I jump up immediately.

  “Which patient are you waiting for?” he asks when he reaches me.

  “Aleah, Aleah Pierson. Do you have any updates on her? Please tell me you have something.”

  “Yes, we just finished surgery. She’s doing okay. A few of her stab wounds are pretty deep and she will have to be watched very carefully for the next twenty-four hours, but luckily none of her organs were injured.”

  “Stab wounds?” I ask in surprise.

  “Yes, they didn’t tell you?”

  I shake my head. “No, the police wouldn’t tell me how the attacker injured her.”

  “He attacked her with a knife, stabbed her about six times. A few of the cuts are minor, but they all required stitches and a couple of them are very deep. It appears that she also received some kicks and punches. She has bruises everywhere, but those did not leave any major injuries. She will just be very sore for the next few days.”

  With every word out of his mouth, I feel sicker to my stomach. The thought that the bastard hit her and stabbed her with a knife makes me want to start throwing the chairs in this room at the walls. I fist my hands tight and dig my fingernails into my skin to hold myself back from doing something stupid. I shake my head to try to get the image of her injured body out of my mind and try to focus on the doctor.

  “Can I see her?” I finally ask the doctor.

  “Not right now. She’s in recovery right now. She’ll be moved to a room as soon as she’s conscious and stable. Check with one of the nurses at the nurse station and they will let you know when she’s ready.” The doctor walks away and I’m left once again with my agonizing thoughts.

  They finally let me see her after another two hours. I slow down my steps as I get closer to her room, afraid of what I will see when I arrive there. I pause behind her door when I get there and try to mentally prepare myself. I slowly turn the knob and enter the room.

  One look in her direction is enough to make me lose my mind. She looks so small and so fragile in the large hospital bed. Her skin is pale and her gorgeous eyes are devoid of their normal vibrancy. I’m at her side in a matter of seconds and have her in my arms before she can open her mouth.

  TWENTY-SIX

  ALEAH

  Aiden walks in the room and I hold my breath. After last week, I don’t know what to expect from him. As soon as he sees me, pain and guilt cover his face. He is by my side in seconds, bending down to grab me in a tight embrace. Even though the hug makes me wince in pain, I welcome his touch, as the feeling of his arms around me finally makes me feel safe.

  “God, baby. I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry,” he almost chokes on his words as he runs his hands up and down my back, while kissing my hair over and over again.

  “What are you sorry for?” I ask him.

  “For so many things. But right now, I’m most sorry for not being with you tonight. If we were spending the night together, this would have never happened.” His voice is laced with so much pain and guilt, that it makes my heart ache. I pull back from his embrace to look directly into his eyes.

  “Aiden–this wasn’t your fault. You wouldn’t have been able to prevent it from happening. If he didn’t attack me tonight, it would have happened another time. He told me he’s been following me around for weeks. He was looking for the perfect opportunity to strike and would have done it sooner or later. It’s not your fault he’s a psychopath.”

  His face turns red in anger. He clenches his jaw, and turns his head around so I don’t see the fury in his eyes. But I catch a glimpse, and the extent of his rage scares me.

  “I should have just killed him. When you first told me what he did to you, I should have killed him with my bare hands like I wanted to,” he tells me through gritted teeth. “I should have at least beaten him up to teach him a lesson...” He runs his hand through his hair and groans. “God! We should’ve kept your body guards…”

  “Stop, Aiden. You can’t beat yourself up over this. I’m okay. I survived and he was arrested. It turned out okay.”

  He looks at me like I’ve lost my mind.

  “It turned out okay?” Are you kidding me? I almost lost you. Do you have any idea what I’ve gone through the past few hours? The bastard stabbed you six times. He could have killed yo
u.”

  I release a trembling breath. Remembering how close I came to dying shakes me to my roots, but I try to keep myself calm for Aiden’s sake. “I know, Aiden. I was there. But I fought him and I knocked him out. I survived.”

  His eyes get so big they are about to pop out of his head. “You fought him? How did you fight him?”

  “When he threatened me to open the door by showing me his knife, I knew I had to fight back. There was no way I was letting him intimidate me like the last time he attacked me. When he got close, I kneed him hard in his groin. But that just pissed him off more. It took him a second to recover, but when he did, he started stabbing me… At first I was in shock and in so much pain that I just froze. But when he continued stabbing me, I fought back. I started kicking and hitting him as best as I could. He punched me a few times and knocked me down... I lost consciousness for a second.”

  Aiden buries his face in my neck, while shaking his head vigorously. “No. No. I can’t listen to this,” he says into my neck.

  “It turned out okay, Aiden,” I tell him. “I came back a few seconds later and when I realized there is no way I can match his physical strength, I remembered my pepper spray… I knew I couldn’t get to it while he was attacking me so I begged him to stop. I told him that I would open the door and let him do whatever he wanted to me, as long as he stopped stabbing me… Miraculously, he bought that and stepped back. His momentary pause gave me a chance to grab my keychain from my purse. As I brought the keys up to his face, I used the pepper spray attached to my key chain to spray him right in his eyes… He immediately fell backwards. In the process, he dropped his knife. I grabbed the knife and took the chance to escape. I tried running towards the elevator, but I was in so much pain that I had to crawl there. He came after me and caught up to me half way to the elevator, but I started wielding the knife at his face and telling him that I won’t hesitate to stab him if he comes any closer. Thank God, I didn’t have to actually use the knife since that’s when the cops showed up.”