by M. G. Morgan
The guard let his gaze travel up and down Paige’s body, the appreciation in his eyes evident.
I spun Paige around, displaying the red angry welts that covered the backs of her thighs.
“Chris got bored. He wants her sold on and he knows that she can’t go out there too damaged.”
The guard didn’t question me further. If he had I wasn’t sure what I’d have told him. But they all knew better than to question Christopher’s orders. Whatever he commanded was law as far as they were concerned.
Paige started to struggle.
“Wait why isn’t she coming?” She called out, her voice taking on a panicked tone.
I smiled at her. “It’s better if I stay here and tend to Chris… Make sure he has everything he needs.”
She stopped struggling, realisation about what I was doing dawning in her eyes. I had a plan and it involved Christopher never leaving this room alive. Aidan was here and if there was chance that I would get to see him again then I was willing to seize it.
Christopher was a hateful bastard. He didn’t deserve to live. I watched Paige as they took her away. I was worried for her, what if someone horrible bought her? No one could be as bad as Christopher. And at least she stood a chance of escaping… If Christopher had kept her she would have been lucky to keep her life.
Pushing the door closed softly I turned. Christopher wasn’t on the floor. I could still see the paper weight lying next to where he had been… There was a small blood stain on the rug, but no body.
I dived across the room in an attempt to make it to the paper weight. I needed a weapon, any weapon would do. If he was up and moving then I was in even bigger trouble.
His body collided into mine, driving me into the floor. I struggled against him, fighting him with everything I had in me. I scooped the paper weight up from the floor, my hand shaking with pressure as I swung it towards him. But he blocked my swing, ramming my arm back towards the floor he twisted it up underneath me.
He pulled me up from the floor and took me to the chair. His hands working quickly to secure me in place before he stood back.
“I didn’t think you had it in you, Bella. I was so sure you were broken.”
For the first time in two years I heard a flicker of uncertainty in his voice. He really had been so sure about me and I had tricked him.
“All I needed was my opportunity.”
He nodded thoughtfully.
“I’m going to retrieve Paige and then I’m going to bring her back here. I’m going to make you watch as I deal with her and then it’s your turn…”
“I’m not afraid of you, Christopher. Not anymore. Aidan is coming for me and there is nothing you can do about it. He’ll find me.”
“Maybe… But how much of you will there be left to find? Wouldn’t it be terrible for him to find you just too late?”
Fear crawled up my throat. I knew Christopher, he delighted in using people’s fears against them. All I had to do was stay strong. I just had to believe that Aidan would come for me. I just had to trust him.
Christopher walked away and made his way to the door. I waited for the tell tale click of it as it shut before I began to struggle. I fought against the bonds that held me to the chair. I struggled and fought hard enough to tip the chair onto its side. But it wasn’t good enough to free me.
When Christopher returned I was on the floor, still pinned to the seat. He dragged the chair upright and stared down at me. I could see the look of anger in his eyes. Paige had obviously gotten away. I couldn’t stop the smile that curled my lips. I knew it would piss him off and still I did it. She had escaped, gotten away from him. He wasn’t all powerful and he didn’t control everything. Two women had thwarted him.
“I don’t know why you’re smiling.”
“I’m smiling because I’m happy.”
“Happy?” He spluttered and stood up straight. “Perhaps you’ve lost your mind, Bella, and if that’s the case then it will make this a little less fun.”
“Anything that makes your life less fun is good in my book.”
He sighed and pulled the knife from the back of his jeans, the blade glinted in the artificial light of the room. He trailed it down the side of my face, pressing the blade against me until one small tear rolled down my cheek.
“I said a little less fun. But I’ll still enjoy it either way… Now you remember how to scream for me don’t you? Because I expect you to scream for me, lots… Like a good little girl.”
He pressed the blade to my throat and I closed my eyes. I could see Aidan. I imagined him finding me… And I knew that he would be too late…
Bella
How could I ask him to love me, after everything that happened? How could he look at me and still want me? I was damaged, broken beyond repair. Aidan deserved so much more than that. He deserved someone perfect, someone like him.
Not me, never me.
I want to be selfish. I want to pretend to be right for him, smile and carry on as though nothing happened. But I’m changed. Even he has changed. I feel the darkness in him, it calls to mine but I won’t give in. I have to be strong, protect him and give him what is right and good. And that’s not me…
Not anymore.
CHAPTER NINE
Aidan - The Present
She was still alive, the constant steady beat of the heart monitor told me that but that was the only sign I had. She looked so small in the bed, small and fragile. All I wanted to do was hold her, but with all the tubes and cables surrounding her I was forced to make do with holding her hand.
Risk of brain damage… She may never wake up.
The doctor’s words swam round and around in my head until I felt dizzy. The moment he had said it I wanted to shout, to roar at him to shut up. She was a fighter, Bella was stronger than that. Against all the odds she had survived. Against all the possibilities she had come through whatever Christopher had thrown at her.
“Bella, sweetheart, please if you can hear me I just want you to wake up. Just give me something, anything to let me know you can hear me.”
There was nothing. The machines clicked and beeped in response, the only sign in the silent room that she hadn’t given up. I scrubbed my hand back across my eyes, they felt heavy and gritty from lack of sleep. I didn’t want to leave her. I couldn’t leave her not now that I’d finally found her again. She needed me here. If she woke up then I would be the first person she would see.
The door clicked open and I was immediately alert. Christopher was dead but that didn’t change my fear. I’d lost her once, what if it happened again? What if I let her down all over again and someone took her? Christopher had plenty of friends, plenty of friends in high places that were pissed off about what happened. With the cops swarming all over Freedom Island, and the girls taken into protective custody there was no mistaking what would happen. Those who could afford to get away with it would, those without the protection of billions of dollars would suffer the full wrath of law. Chances were that they wouldn’t be the worst of the offenders…
The nurse made her way into the room, she scooped Bella’s chart up from the end of the bed and began ticking boxes. I watched her carefully, my eyes taking in every little move she made. What if she wasn’t really a nurse? What if she was working for one of Christopher’s friends? It wouldn’t have been the first time Christopher had someone infiltrate our operations. Natalie’s face popped into my mind but I quickly pushed it away.
“She’s doing better today, Mr Crantree. Perhaps you should take this opportunity to get cleaned up? Get some sleep?”
She fiddled with the drip that was connected to Bella’s arm and I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand.
“Why would I do that? If she wakes up I want to be here.”
“Oh, we’ll call you if there is any change in her.”
Her voice was cheerful and it grated across my already frayed nerves.
“No.”
My tone was gruff, angry and tense. She
glanced up at me in surprise. The look in her grey eyes a little frightened. I liked it that way. I wanted people to be afraid of me, that way there was less chance of them going after the people I loved.
“I just meant it might help you feel better if…”
“I said no. If she wakes up then I want to be here. She has to know that I was here with her, no matter what. So can you please just do your job and leave me be.”
My voice was harsher than even I’d intended it to be here. Her shoulders stiffened and I could hear the distinctive catch of tears in her voice as she turned away.
“Of course.”
She scurried from the room and all of the anger simply disappeared from my body. What was I thinking? Attacking the nurses wasn’t the way to go. I had Bella back, I didn’t need to be so cruel to anyone else. I had everything that mattered to me and as long as she woke up then everything would be fine.
I pressed my lips to the back of her hand, inhaling the scent of her skin. She was still my Bella… Or at least I hoped she was. Would she still want me, after everything that had happened no one would blame her if she hated me.
Two years. Two years, I left her to suffer at that hands of that bastard. How could she forgive me for letting her down so badly? I couldn’t forgive myself, so I didn’t expect her to. Would she have changed?
It wasn’t something I’d ever allowed to penetrate my brain. In the two years that she was missing I’d only ever thought of getting her back. The only thoughts I entertained of her was the memories I held. I’d never even fully allowed myself to imagine getting her back. It had always seemed so impossible, so far out of my reach that to dream of it was to taste bitter disappointment every time I woke up.
“What are you doing here?”
Her voice was so familiar and when I turned to look at her I could see Bella in her eyes. It was weird to sit there holding Bella’s hand in mine, while I stared up at a slightly older version of her.
“I said what are you doing here, Aidan? You know you don’t belong here…”
Bella’s sister prodded me again, her parents stood behind her nodding in agreement.
“I have as much right as anyone to be here, I’m her fiancé.”
Sarah laughed. “You’ve been spouting that nonsense, since she disappeared. Don’t you think, Bella would have told us if you and her were together? Don’t you think she’d have told us about you in the first place?”
I stood, rage tingling along my spine. They’d never understood, always believing I was the reason she was gone. And they weren’t wrong… They only thing they were wrong about, dead wrong about was my feelings for Bella. I loved her more than anything else in this world. I’d given up just about everything I was to find her. My life changed the moment she entered into it and when she was taken I had done everything in my power to get her back.
“Bella, didn’t tell you everything because none of you wanted to know the real her. None of you wanted to bother with knowing her hopes or her dreams, she was meant to fit into this perfect little box that you had created for her. And that wasn’t what she was about. She didn’t tell you about me because she knew none of you would understand, it wasn’t part of your plan.”
Her father stepped in front of Sarah, his hair grey and distinguished. He was used to being the one in charge and now was no exception. When I had gone to tell them about Bella’s disappearance I had expected him to show some emotion, anything at all to let me know that he cared about her. But there hadn’t been anything. Instead, he had come across as cold, dismissive even of the danger Bella was in. And perhaps it had been a coping mechanism but after what Bella had told me about them I doubted it.
“Don’t you speak to my daughter in that manner. You know nothing of Bella’s life and I would like you to leave.”
I laughed, I couldn’t help it. I knew it came across as bitter and disrespectful. It wasn’t exactly the perfect image to portray to Bella’s parents. Her father’s face grew darker, reddening around his neck as pressure seemed to build within him.
“I asked you to leave and all you can do is laugh at me?”
“I’m not going anywhere. The only person who will tell me to leave is Bella herself and she’s not awake yet.”
“Sarah, go and ask at the nurses station to send security in here. We appear to have someone who shouldn’t be here making a nuisance of himself.”
His voice was strained, barely holding the anger he felt towards me in check. I contemplated pushing him further. Pushing him until his calm and collected facade crumbled around him. I wanted to expose him for the bully he was but this wasn’t the place to do it.
I sat back down on the seat at Bella’s bedside, lifting her hand to my lips as I whispered to her.
“Bella, if you’re going to wake up sweetheart, now would be the time to do it. Your parents are here and I’m not sure about how much longer I’ll be able to stay with you.”
It near broke my heart to say it to her. I didn’t want her to wake up without me being there by her side. But what choice would I have. As soon as security arrived I wouldn’t stand a chance against her blood relations. I wanted to stay with her. I wanted to be there for her. After everything else that I had failed her on, this seemed like the only way I could prove to her that I still loved her… And now that chance was slipping through my fingers.
The door opened and I could see the two security officers standing behind Sarah. They beckoned to me. I contemplated just giving in, walking out the door and letting them walk me from the hospital. But that wasn’t who I was anymore. These past two years had been more than just heartache. When Bella was taken, she had taken my heart with her… Now that I had her back I couldn’t just walk away.
I smiled and shook my head. I stood and leaned in over the bed, pressing my lips to Bella’s as the security officer’s wrapped their hands around my arms. She had always been a fan of romantic movies and if she woke up now I knew she would appreciate the gesture… Just like a fairytale. One kiss from her prince and she would awaken. But there was nothing. The machines continued to beep, their sounds mingling with the muttered swearing and laboured breathing of the security officers as I fought them every step of the way.
They dragged me from the room and the last view I had of Bella was as her father shut the door in my face.
“What’s the point of causing a scene?”
The taller of the two security officers asked as he huffed in a deep breath and struggled to get a better grip on my arm.
Grinning I tried to shrug but they held me far too tightly to allow any sort of real movement.
“If the only woman you had ever loved was missing for two years and when you finally found her, she was beaten so badly she ended up in a coma, would you go quietly when they tried to drag you away from her bed?”
Neither one answered me. But they both loosened their grip on my arms a little as they escorted me to the elevators. I wouldn’t be there when she woke up. Mine wouldn’t be the first face she saw. She wouldn’t know that I had never given up looking for her… How would she know that I still loved her?
The guards brought me to the front door before they dumped me out onto the sidewalk. As they turned to leave the one that had asked me why I was making a scene slapped his arm on my shoulder before walking away.
“Sorry, man.”
I watched as they walked back into the hospital, the automatic door closing with a whoosh behind them. And then I was alone. Perhaps if I had been nicer, less abrasive they would have let me stay. Maybe if I had allowed them to sit with her alone during their visit they would have just left me be. And now I wouldn’t know. Her father was a bitter guy, there was no way he wouldn’t have me blacklisted from visiting her now.
All I could do now was go home… Go home and wait for the call that said she was finally awake. If it ever came.
CHAPTER TEN
Bella
Waking up had never before been difficult, until now. It was like being stuck
in a haze, half formed memories and thoughts flitted past me. It didn’t matter how hard I tried to concentrate, nothing wanted to stick around. I was lost, I wanted to go home, feel the warmth of his arms around me.
But who was he? Even those basic things seemed beyond my grasp. I knew his smile. I knew the scent of his cologne, the taste of his skin. I knew what it felt like to hold his hand in mine, to hear his voice whisper in my ear. He was a part of me, a vital part of me and without him I wasn’t sure I would have gotten through everything. But I just couldn’t remember his name.
There were times when it flitted by. Each time I made a grab for it I missed letting it slip through my fingers like the passing sands of time. I couldn’t tell if the fog inside my head was getting worse or better. There were times when it seemed to want to suffocate me, stuffing itself down my throat, choking the air from my lungs. Only his voice kept me here, wherever here was.
He never left my side, of that I was certain and I wasn’t certain of much. He was with me, like an invisible presence, protecting me, guiding me back to him. All I had to do was follow the sound of his voice. I needed to remember his name. Part of me wondered if perhaps that was the key to escaping this limbo I found myself in. If I remembered his name then maybe I would be released. Free to go back to him. Free to feel the hard press of his lips against mine once more.
There were other memories here too. Not everything was happy, and I didn’t want to remember some of the half formed thoughts that crept up on me. Yet they were the ones that came back first. Pain, terror, the cold press of steel against my skin, I remembered it all like I was back there with him, with Christopher. Why was it so easy to remember his name? It was like some sort of sick joke. I could remember the horrors of where I’d been but not the name of the one man who held my heart. It wasn’t fair.
And then he was gone.
