Then he flipped her around and hauled her over his shoulder. "I had so many plans for us," he said under his breath as he made his way across the field.
With every step, his shoulder pressed harder into her lungs, which made screaming almost impossible. A newfound fear snaked through her. How many times had he carried women off in order to know how to keep them from screaming?
Gabrie instead tried to focus what energy she had on looking back to the police station. She knew it was getting late, but there had to be somebody there to see him carrying her off like a caveman. Maybe if she saw movement, she could muster up enough breath to scream again.
"No one's there, Gabriella." Chris gripped her even tighter. "The cameras have been down at the station for weeks and there's only a skeleton crew after five."
"Gabrie!" The familiar baritone sparked renewed hope in her chest.
She had to wrench her shoulders around to get a better view of the station, but there was no sign of Jack. Where was he?
Before she could shout out to him, Chris threw her onto the ground and covered her with his body as his hand went back over her mouth and nose. She tried to wiggle beneath him. From this angle, she didn't think she'd be able to kick him off her, but she might be able to make the brush shake and give Jack their position. He had to be close, right?
She'd definitely heard him shout, so maybe he was making his way to the back lot at this very moment. He'd see her car and know she was somewhere.
But her struggles abruptly stopped when the sharp point of a knife poked into her ribs.
"Don't. Move," whispered Chris, jerking the knife for emphasis.
"Gabrie!" shouted Jack.
His voice sounded so close. The sound of a door opening and slamming shut. He must've found the truck by now.
How far had she moved from the truck? Twenty yards? Thirty? He was so close. If she stayed quiet, she was dead. If she screamed, she was probably dead too. But at least that way she'd take Chris down with her.
Footsteps sounded and she knew Jack was in the short grass where Chris had originally tackled her. Would he see signs of a struggle? Or would the dirt and vegetation have gone right back to normal as though nothing happened?
Well, he was about to know just where she was. Gabrie took one moment to steady herself, trying to judge Chris's state of awareness. Everything banked on him being too distracted by Jack's presence.
She let her eyes drift shut, and all the crime scene photos from her mom's murder flashed through her mind. She was deadly calm when she opened them again and saw Chris stare intently at the grass to their left, listening for Jack.
With one brutal motion, Gabrie slammed her head up. The suddenness of her attack caught Chris off-guard and she hit him right in the bridge of the nose.
He grunted and started to roll away, but not before the steel of the knife slid into her side. She pushed past the pain, took a deep breath, and shouted at the top of her lungs, "Jack!"
Chris punched her full force in the jaw and hauled her up. He held her in front of him like a shield with one arm wrapped around her waist, which managed to squeeze her ribs and stab wound all at once. "Stay back," he warned. The knife pressed into her neck as a warning.
Gabrie didn't even remember him taking the knife out of her side. Had he done it before or after he punched her? Focus! As she looked up to see Jack, all of her pain disappeared. At least he knew. Her death wouldn't go unsolved and uncared about like her mother's.
Jack held up his hands. His gaze shifted between her and the man behind her. "What's going on, Chris?" he asked in a tone much calmer than she would've expected under the circumstances.
She looked him up and down, but didn't see a weapon of any sort, which put them at even more of a disadvantage considering Chris had the knife and his still holstered gun.
Did Jack realize he still had a gun?
"What does it look like?" shouted Chris. His hand holding the knife started to shake.
Gabrie tensed, praying that he didn't lose control.
"Whoa." Jack held his hands up higher. "I'm just trying to understand. I thought you two were friends."
Chris snorted in disgust. "I tried to be. But she never really cared about me, did she? Not with you and Darren hovering around her constantly."
"Is that why you're doing this?" she asked hesitantly. "Because you think I don't care about you?" She sure as hell didn't anymore, but before she knew he was crazy, she thought Chris was a standup guy.
"No," said Jack. "He's doing this because you look like your mother."
Her eyes widened and the knife suddenly bit so deep into her neck, she knew the fragile skin wouldn't hold up much longer.
"She's nothing like Lily." Chris jerked her back a step.
The motion sent a fresh wave of blood trickling down her stomach from the wound in her side and Gabrie winced, wishing her hands were free to at least slow the bleeding. "What did you do to my mother, Chris?"
His arm squeezed her neck so tightly that for a few moments, all air was cut off.
"Let her go," yelled Jack. "If you kill her, you'll never make it out of this field alive."
A strange, sick laughter escaped Chris. "You think? I tried to make it neat! Lily didn't make things this complicated."
Gabrie thought back to the crime scene photos that were anything but "neat." But then his true meaning set in. She didn't fight. By the time Lily was murdered, she was a shell of the woman Gabrie used to know. "Why here? At the station?"
"Because you left me no choice! My perfect scapegoat was leaving and who knew what Philip had in that box. I thought that if you dug enough, you'd think Darren was guilty. Hell, his own father did. Why not you too?"
A cold shiver snaked down her spine despite the sweltering heat. She looked to Jack, who gave her a little nod. Her brows drew together. Did he have a plan? The tremble in the knife returned and Gabrie knew whatever was happening, the longer Chris talked, the longer she stayed alive. "Why Darren? What did he ever do to you?"
"The golden boy was convenient," he spat out. "When Lily almost caught me running out of her bedroom, I knew someone had to be blamed. When she spooked and left down, I tried to forget her. I really did. But then I went to school in the city, and guess who I saw on the street? It was fucking fate."
Her stomach churned at the realization of how deep his sickness went. How many times he'd watched her when she didn't even know it.
"And I'm assuming you're behind what Drake did?" Jack took the tiniest step forward.
Chris jerked her back and Jack abruptly halted. "You put him up to taking Gabrie, right? Did you tell him you'd let him get away scot-free if he helped you torture her?"
As the knife shook harder, the skin finally broke and a trickle of blood made its way down Gabrie's neck.
But Jack didn't stop this time. "It was the perfect chance to take her, too. With Drake being on everyone's watch list and everyone assuming he'd left town, you could have him do the dirty legwork while you would look like the local hero when you stumbled across her body. But you weren't expecting her to kill him, were you?"
"I killed him, you idiot! The moron couldn't even keep one girl tied up for half an hour. Did you really expect me to let that kind of incompetence—"
Jack charged right in the middle of his tirade. The second he took off, Gabrie put all her strength into ducking away from the knife; the blade just grazed the delicate skin as she slammed into the hard ground.
The pure surprise of the attack seemed to give her an edge for the briefest moment, but right as Chris reached down for her, Jack reached them and grabbed Chris's wrist with both his hands, jerking the arm to the side and then at a painful looking angle behind his back.
Gabrie frantically pulled at the bonds around her wrists as a slow trickle of blood made its way down her neck. The fighting brought the men practically on top of her and she tried to wiggle away. Just then, Chris's face contorted in pain as his free hand reached for his gun. Without e
ven thinking, Gabrie slammed her foot up and into his groin, ignoring her aching side and putting all her weight into it.
Jack's eyes widened as Chris's legs gave out and he stumbled on his knees next to Gabrie. Before he recovered, Jack pulled the gun out of Chris's holster and held it firmly. He looked down and met Gabrie's eyes. A mix of fear, shock, and pride flashed in his face. "Good job," he breathed as he kept the gun trained on Chris.
She glared at the panting man next to her. The man had killed her mother and almost killed her. Gabrie maneuvered herself up and stood, her fingers still trying to work loose the rope that held her.
"Want help with that?" asked Jack.
She glanced at the homicidal maniac who could escape at any moment. "Yeah, hold on." And then she kicked Chris between the legs again, putting every ounce of strength she had into the blow. As he doubled over in pain, Gabrie kept her back to Jack and wiggled her hands. "Quick, before he can stand again. One of us needs to call the police, the real police, while the other keeps him there."
In a flash, Jack had her untied and the gun was back on Chris. He held the gun while Gabrie called the police department, letting the one deputy inside know to get the higher-ups on the phone immediately.
After she hung up, she breathed a sigh of relief. An ambulance was on the way and Chris would be arrested. She'd be much happier if the pain in her side wasn't getting worse with every passing moment.
"Watch him," she breathed as she stuttered forward a few steps and sat on the ground, tightly pressing against her wound to stop any more blood from escaping.
"Hang in there, Gabrie. Just a few more minutes," said Jack.
"It's not all bad," she said through labored breaths.
"You made it out alive, hun. I'd say that's pretty damn good."
Gabrie smiled. She did make it out alive, didn't she? "And here I was just happy I got to kick him in the balls a few times."
CHAPTER NINE
Gabrie wasn't a fan of hospitals. But whatever painkillers were pumped through her IV were definitely her friend.
She'd been lucky enough that the blade hadn't gone straight to her lungs, in which case she probably would've suffocated before the ambulance ever got there. Probably wouldn't have gotten the chance to kick Chris either. Twice. She giggled to herself and she wondered whether it was the drugs or the craziness of what happened that made her feel so out of it.
"You're not supposed to have fun in the hospital," said Jack from the doorway. "It's against the rules." He strode in the room and handed her a diet soda.
"Thanks." She twisted off the cap and smiled up at him. She shouldn't be smiling. She should be shaken and disturbed and hiding from the world.
But she'd gotten enough of that over the past week. She wanted to celebrate and shout her victory to the world. But she would make do with celebrating with Jack. She patted the bed and scooched over.
"The nurse will kill me," he warned. But that didn't stop him from taking a seat next to her.
Gabrie snuggled into him and rested her head on his shoulder even though the wiggling motion felt decidedly less pleasant than her mood. "I think we can take her."
He set an arm around her shoulders and held her close. "You know, I was thinking that after you feel better, we could take a hike up to the falls. If we time it right, we can eat dinner as the sun starts to set and still make it back to the car before it gets too dark."
"Falls? Like waterfalls?"
Jack chuckled in her ear. "Yeah. Cross Falls...Hampton Falls. You never wondered what the falls were?"
"I suppose I was distracted," she murmured as she leaned back against him.
"No more distractions. Darren is back in the city. Chris is in the county jail and they found enough evidence in his apartment to keep him locked up for a long time. From now on, you have enough money to do whatever you want and a pretty kickass house, if I do say so myself. So what do you want to do?"
Gabrie hadn't really had a chance to digest it all yet. She really was free. She could go back to school, seriously pursue interior design or any other passion she set her sights on. The whole idea of all that freedom was really overwhelming.
Jack pressed a soft kiss on her forehead and she was filled with a sudden clarity. No matter what she decided on, she knew she wanted to be next to Jack. "What I want to do is visit the falls with you."
~~ THE END~~
For more from Mallory Crowe, check out the Billionaires in the City series. Book One: Teaching The Boss is FREE on Amazon!
Amazon US Link
Amazon UK Link
Business-school student April Morgan is ready to graduate--from school, from the secretary pool, and from never-gonna-happen fantasies involving Sam Hunt, her hunky billionaire boss. But when Sam's girlfriend of the week pushes her too far, April finds herself quitting on the spot with only a mountain of student loan debt to keep her company. In steps Sam's worst enemy, his father, with a job offer she can't refuse.
Cross Falls Saga - Southern Suspense Box Set Page 18
