Roxanne's Redemption

by Aisling Keegan

  “What the—”

  Her body jerked as someone ran into the back of her car. One minute she was trying to stop and the next she was screaming as her car went over the side of the road. I love you, Sebastian, she thought before everything went black.

  * * * *

  Ashley laughed instead of doing a victory dance, like she’d wanted as she drove away from the scene.

  “Die, bitch. That’s for stealing my man.”

  There was nothing Ashley could do now but disappear for at least a day and wait until someone found a dead female in a crumpled Ferrari.

  She smiled. With that bitch gone, Sebastian would be hurting and she’d be there to comfort him in his time of need. She would wait until he was finally over his loss, then she would claim him as her own forever.

  * * * *

  Sebastian checked the clock for the fifth time since Ava called to tell him Roxanne was on her way home. What was taking her so long? They’d been together for five months and he knew she loved him, but he also knew she was scared to say the words. He was fine with that, because he understood she needed more time to accept her feelings for him before she shared them with him.

  The house phone rang, pulling him from his thoughts.

  “Roxanne, where are you?” he asked as he answered.

  “It's not Roxanne. It’s Lexi.” Why did she sound like she was crying?

  “Oh, sorry, Roxanne isn't here, but she’s on her way home from Ava’s.”

  “She isn't…” her voice broke. “An ambulance just brought Roxanne in after someone passed a car over the side of the road and called the police.”

  He froze and his breathing stopped. No. No. No. No. Not Roxanne, somebody else. Please!

  “Are you sure?” he asked shakily.

  “Yes, she went into surgery immediately after she arrived,” she said with a sob.

  “I’ll be there as soon as I can.” After hanging up the phone, Sebastian ran outside, jumped into his car and drove off.

  An hour later Sebastian pulled into the hospital parking lot. He was a little shocked that he hadn’t gotten pulled over at the speed he was going but he pushed the thought away as he occupied his mind by hoping Roxanne was all right.

  He spotted Lexi as he entered the hospital and went straight to her.

  “How is she?” he asked.

  “I don't know. Let’s go to the waiting room and wait with the others.”

  He followed behind her numbly as he began praying for the life of the woman who meant more to him than his next breath. When they reached the waiting room he saw Ava with Zach sitting on her lap and Kira staring at nothing while tears flowed silently down her face. He wouldn't cry, because he refused to believe he was going to lose the woman he’d waited for all his life.

  They waited for what seemed like forever, until he saw a doctor walking toward them. Finally, he thought.

  “Dr. Leighton.” He nodded at Lexi.

  “How is she?” Lexi asked.

  “We had to operate on her immediately. Her fractured ribs punctured one of her lungs. Her left wrist and right ankle were also fractured.” Someone whimpered. “She's stable and in recovery, but if she hadn’t been found so quickly, she would've died of internal bleeding. She's in a coma but she should wake up in a few days. In addition she will need some mild physical therapy to help get movement back in her ankle and wrist.”

  “When can we see her?” Sebastian asked, suddenly feeling dizzy.

  “You are?”

  “Her fiancé,” he answered.

  The doctor smiled. “In about two hours.”

  Sebastian nodded and thanked him as he walked away.

  He stroked the black velvet ring box in his pocket and thanked God for not taking her away from him. He had been planning on proposing that afternoon after she returned from Ava's. It may not have happened the way he wanted, but at least she was alive so he could do it once she was all right. He didn't mind waiting. As long as he had her back in his arms where she belonged, everything would be all right.

  Lexi went home around ten-thirty when Zach started falling asleep, but she promised to come by in the morning. Only he, Ava and Kira remained as they waited for the go ahead from the doctor. It finally came at eleven when a nurse took them to see her, before telling them only one of them could spend the night. It hadn't taken long to convince Ava and Kira to let him stay and he was glad, for he hadn’t wanted to argue with them.

  Upon seeing her, Ava and Kira cried, but this time Kira wasn’t silent. After saying their goodbyes and promising to return in the morning, they left when the nurse knock on the door. Sebastian pulled up a chair by Roxanne’s bed and held her hand as he continued to stroke the ring box.

  Not long after he fell asleep with her hand still in his.

  Sebastian woke when a nurse came in the room to check on Roxanne. He didn't want to leave but he was hungry and in dire need of a bathroom, plus he could tell he was getting in the nurse’s way. He kissed Roxanne’s forehead then left to find a bathroom and a vending machine.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Ashley dodged around the corner as she spotted Sebastian heading toward her direction. He was exhausted. She could see the love and the hope shining so clearly that she almost screamed. She cursed about the unfairness of life and, even though it didn't have the desired effect, at least she had better control of her anger.

  Why didn't Roxanne die?

  Ashley made sure she followed them wherever they went before making plans. She’d even jotted down the pros and the cons of the situation and still, all the trouble Ashley had taken to ensure she couldn’t be linked with her death was for naught. She was still alive.

  Not for long, Ashley promised herself as she entered the room. She took the gun from her jacket pocket and pointed it at her head. The accident didn't kill her but a bullet to the head would.

  * * * *

  Detective Shaun Williams jumped in his car going faster than he should as he headed for the hospital. He'd heard about the car accident involving Ms. Reynolds. He’d wanted to be on the scene but he couldn’t; an urgent case had needed his undivided attention, so someone else took it instead of him. When his captain and fellow officers began saying it was the driver's fault for not abiding by the speed limit he’d told them—well tried to—that it had nothing to do with speeding.

  They hadn't believed him so, after turning in his case, he continued his search. Imagine his surprise when he found out Ashley Woodland, also known as Terri Thomas, Katie Plume, Boston Wright and few others, was Gracie Harris by birth and she was one of the FBI’s most wanted. She would work for the man she chose as her next victim, then start dating him and afterward she would kill him.

  Of all her victims, Sebastian and Roxanne were the luckiest. The others had all been killed after three months. Most of her victims had companions, but they too were killed. Now he was here to stop her from finishing what she started. It took a long time to find the information, but as long as he saved two lives it was worth it. He pulled into the parking lot, exiting the car as quickly as possible.

  “Roxanne Reynolds?” he asked, flashing his badge at the nurse sitting at the desk as he entered the hospital.

  “Go straight down, make a right then you'll find her in room 217.”

  “Thank you.”

  He didn't wait for a reply, hurrying like the hounds of hell were at his heels and in a way they were. Though he wanted to be wrong, a part of him knew Gracie would show up and when she did she might get away with hurting Roxanne. She was good at hurting people without drawing attention to herself, so he wasn't taking any chances in not warning Sebastian before it was too late.

  Shaun was almost there when he saw someone enter the room. The person was too short to be Sebastian and not dressed like a nurse.

  “Ah shit,” he muttered, when the hair at his nape stood up.

  He silently ran the rest of the way. As he got closer, he slowed. He stood in front of the door and heard mutte
rings from within. He entered the room silently, freezing when he saw a gun pointed at Roxanne's head.

  “Gracie.” She jumped but didn’t turn so he continued. “You don't want to do that.”

  She snorted. “Yes I do. If I don't, Sebastian will never be mine as he was meant to be.”

  “Killing her won’t get you what you want.”

  “No, but killing her will make him love me like he was meant to.”

  “How can killing the woman he loves make him love you?”

  “He has to,” she muttered. “I've been waiting for him to want me like he should’ve when we first met, but no he went and fell for a woman that wasn’t even his color.”

  “Gracie.”

  “Don't call me that. My name is Ashley,” she snapped.

  Shaun opened his mouth to say something, but shut it when she began talking. “She wasn’t supposed to survive that crash, you know.”

  Shit! He’d been right all along.

  “I planned her accident perfectly. I followed them for almost three months and when I saw my chance to finally get rid of her, I acted. I ran her off the road, and then waited for about two minutes to see if she would escape. When she didn't, I went home to watch the news and imagine my surprise when the reporter said she was rushed to the hospital in a critical condition. She was supposed to die, damn it.”

  “Why are you telling me this?”

  “Even if you kill me, I’ll have the pleasure of ending her life like I’d wanted when she stole Sebastian from me.”

  She raised her gun higher. With a speed he didn't know he had he pulled his gun from its holster and fired. She fell to the ground. He watched with shaking hands as blood spread on her blouse and on the tiles. In a few seconds, hospital security guards slammed into the room, guns out.

  * * * *

  “Come on honey; you have to wake up for me, please.”

  Roxanne wanted to open her eyes, but they felt like they were glued shut. What was wrong with her? Why couldn’t she open her eyes? Someone squeezed her hand gently; she tried to squeeze back, but her fingers wouldn’t work either. There was some muttering then someone shouted.

  “Roxanne Allayna Reynolds, open your eyes this instant. You’ve been asleep for almost four weeks and it’s time for you to get up, so Sebastian can stop driving the rest of us insane with his pacing.”

  She would recognize that voice anywhere.

  “Stop shouting, Ava,” she managed to croak and as her eyes began to open she saw Sebastian pacing. Kira and Lexi were leaning on the wall. Both were staring at her, but she doubted they really saw her.

  Four pairs of eyes turned to look at her. Ava, Kira and Lexi began crying silently and Sebastian’s eyes filled with tears though they didn't fall.

  “Water,” she croaked.

  Sebastian was at her side with a glass of water as soon as the word left her mouth. She sipped it while he held the glass. When she had her fill he placed the glass back on a table. She winced as she tried to sit up. God! She felt like she’d been run over by a truck.

  “How are you feeling?” Roxanne turned to the voice, realizing that Lexi had gone for a doctor.

  Like shit probably wouldn’t be the right thing to say, so instead she said, “Like I got run over by a truck then beaten to near death with metal baseball bats.”

  Everyone winced. The doctor did his check-up and was out of the room half an hour later after talking to Sebastian. Roxanne heard most of it, but stopped listening after he said something about physical therapy.

  “Start talking,” she said as the door closed.

  “What do you remember?” Lexi asked a few minutes after returning.

  “Not much. But what I do remember is blurry.”

  “Well this is what happened…”

  An hour later and after she had heard the full story Roxanne lay gaping at Sebastian after her friends left, promising to return in the morning.

  “What?”

  “The Ashley Woodland we know is a fake. Her real name is Gracie Harris and she’s one of the FBI’s most wanted. According to Shaun her victims are always men, but if they have a woman in their life, whether it’s a wife, a fiancée or a girlfriend, she kills them. After dating the men for a while she would kill them after getting a large sum of money from them, and then start over in a different state. She’s the reason you almost died, but when you survived she came here to finish what the crash failed to do.”

  “I heard what you said the first time. It’s just that I'm in serious shock.”

  Ashley…Gracie whatever her name is, was trying to kill her so she could get Sebastian. She was right from the beginning. Something was wrong with that woman, but still Roxanne never thought she would resort to killing or be one of the FBI’s most wanted. This was too much for her tired brain to process right now. What she needed was a good night sleep, before she started thinking about how close she came to dying—twice in one day.

  “Who is Shaun?” she asked with a tilt of her head.

  “That’s Detective Williams’ first name.”

  Okay, now for the hard one. “Where is Ashley?”

  “She’s dead.” She couldn’t help it; she flinched at how detached he sounded.

  Don't ask. Don't ask. Don't ask. “How?” she asked as she called herself ten different names for feeling sorry for the woman who wanted her dead so badly that she tried a second time to kill her after failing the first time.

  “Shaun came here to warn me about who she really was and saw her entering your room. It’s my fault she tried to kill you and almost succeeded the first time, and then came back a second time when she failed. If I hadn't left the room she wouldn’t have been able to enter. Anyway he saw her with a gun pointed at your head and he tried to talk her out of it, but she wouldn’t listen. Just before she pulled the trigger, she started telling him about how she ran you off the road. He shot her when she was about to shoot you.”

  “The accident wasn’t your fault, Sebastian. It could’ve happened to anyone who had a crazy stalker/murderer intending on kill them.”

  “Isn't it?”

  “It’s not. I love you, Sebastian, and I would help you again, even if it meant I had to protect you from a crazy woman. We were meant to be together and we are, so everything else will work out in time.”

  He kissed her forehead. “I love you too. Get some sleep; I’ll be here when you wake in the morning.”

  She smiled. She was falling asleep when she heard him mutter. “I wish I could feel like it wasn’t my fault.” She wanted to reassure him or hit him upside the head, but she was too tired to open her eyes even for a minute.

  * * * *

  Around one o’clock when Roxanne woke again Sebastian was there like he’d promised. She’d woken up at six o’clock this morning asking for pain medication and, although he was glad that Ashley was out of their lives for good, Sebastian still couldn’t fight the regret he felt for not being the one who pulled the trigger.

  “Hungry?” he asked when she opened her eyes.

  She grimaced. “Very.”

  “I’ll get you something from the cafeteria. What do you want?”

  “Burger, fries and soda, please.”

  He smiled. She was already getting back to her old self. “Okay, I’ll be right back.”

  “Marry me,” he said ten minutes after returning with her food. “I know you’re afraid of getting hurt again, and I promise I'm not like your past boyfriends or your ex-fiancé. I’d rather cut off my leg than hurt you. I love you Roxanne and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. If you don't—”

  “Yes,” she said cutting off his babbling.

  “You will?”

  “Of course I will. Sebastian, I already know that you’re not like Daniel or the other men from my past and, as I said last night, I love you, so of course I’ll marry you.”

  He smiled widely and kissed her. When he came back up for air, he murmured, “Hurry up and get better so we can start our life together.�
��

  “Definitely,” she said, pulling his head down and began kissing him again.

  Epilogue

  “Sebastian Khaidyn Ferguson!”

  Sebastian winced. What did he do now? They’d been married for six months and Roxanne only called him by his full name when he was in trouble. He usually knew what he’d done and fixed it, but not this time. She came around the corner, standing in front of him with her hands on her hips.

  “What did I do now?” he asked, trying to make his voice sound contrite.

  “You’re keeping something from me. What is it?”

  Oh shit! “No I'm not.”

  “Why are you lying and keeping secrets? Sebastian, if I find out from someone else what you're hiding from me, you won't like what I’ll do.”

  “I'm not lying nor am I keeping anything from you.”

  She smirked. “Sebastian, did you know that when you lie your nose twitches.” He was so screwed! Only his mother had found that out about him, but he hadn’t thought Roxanne would notice. “I'm surprised it hasn't started growing like Pinocchio’s yet.”

  He scowled. “You lied to me too.” Okay that was low, but he didn't want her asking again.

  “No I didn't.”

  “You didn't tell me your ex-fiancé had come to your house six months ago.”

  She rolled her eyes. “If you had asked I would've told you. Besides six months ago, we weren’t in a real relationship so don’t change the subject.”

  “I love you. Have I told you that this morning?”

  “I love you, too, and you did tell me three times already, but I still like hearing it. If you won't tell me what you’re hiding from me I'm not wearing that new baby doll outfit I bought from Victoria’s Secret for you tonight.”