Seattle Sound Series, The Collection: Books One to Five

by Alexa Padgett

  I didn’t even glance at the girls flashing me in the front row. As Hayden and Flip had said most of the tour, not interested. I’d love on Mila later.

  We finished the set hard. Now came the screaming-crowd-multiple-encores part of the show that I found the most exhausting. We exited. None of the ladies joined us and dread pooled in my gut.

  “Back out, gents.”

  Hayden scowled, and I’m sure I mirrored the expression. “Where are Mila and Briar?”

  “Your fans are waiting,” Harry said. He shoved me back on stage. I bowed again and smiled but anger bubbled thick in my chest. No bloody way Harry ever shoved me again.

  Hayden and Jake came out but we’d lost our momentum. None of us worried about the final, final encore.

  “Thanks everyone for supporting such an important cause! You’ve been great,” I called into the microphone. I’d prepared an entire speech telling the fans about my youngest brother, before our final song. Not happening. Not now. I whipped my guitar strap off, signaling the end of the show. The crowd’s calls still rang in my ears as I hustled off the stage. Mila wasn’t there, where I asked her to stand. Neither were Briar or Noelle, but the security was still thick. I handed my guitar to one of the roadies and ran across the chords and wires littering the stage floor. I burst into the lounge room where we’d left our personal items, and Briar whipped around, eyelids rimmed in red, tears still shining on her cheeks.

  “Where’s Mila?” I asked. She’s with Noelle, I thought. But when I didn’t see her crazy ringlets either, my lungs started to ache. Where was my phone? I’d call her.

  Harry cleared his throat. “She called a cab about half way through your set.”

  I grabbed his shirt, pulling him up until we were nose to nose. “The hell you say?” I growled. Jake yanked on my arm but I didn’t let go. I was going to hurt the little wanker. Bad.

  “She got a call or a text,” Harry said with a shrug. “She said she had to leave. She didn’t want her friend to go with her, but the girl insisted.”

  Kevin was still here, in the lounge. Trying to pull me off Harry. “Wait! She left without a bodyguard? Kevin, how could you do that? You know what Jordan’s capable of!”

  “I didn’t let her go anywhere,” Kevin said. His voice was sharp with anger. I dropped Harry and turned, prepared to run from the room. This couldn’t be happening. Not again. I wasn’t losing Mila again. If Jordan got to her first . . .

  Kevin and Jake stood in front of me, barring the exit.

  “Move!”

  Hayden joined them. “I’ve got a car coming round, mate. You can leave in a few minutes. But you have to calm down. You’re not rational.”

  “He’s going to try to hurt her again. What could he have threatened her with?”

  Briar stepped forward, her right arm folded across her body. “Tanya. The woman at the hospital. He said he’d kill her if Mila didn’t come immediately. She called the cab and bolted from the room just as Harry was coming to check on us.”

  I groaned, slowly becoming aware that Jake had grasped me under my arms and was holding me up. Of course Mila went. She’d do anything for the people she cared about, and she cared deeply for Tanya, for her baby.

  “Why didn’t you come get me?” I asked, my eyes meeting Briar’s, which filled with tears again. I wasn’t trying to be accusatory, but my words were sharp, studded with worry.

  Hayden went to hug her, but his face settled in a firm line. “We’d have stopped the show, Bri. Mila is more important.”

  “I know, but Harry locked Kevin and me in this room and you don’t have your phones on you.” She gestured to where all our mobiles lay on the catering table.

  We turned as one to gape at Harry. Before I could open my mouth, Jake said, “You’re fired.”

  “Wait, Murphy, there’s more to this,” Briar said, her voice shaking. “Jordan also threatened your mom.”

  “He’s in the US. What can he do to my mum?”

  “I don’t know,” Briar said, her eyes stormy. “Mila didn’t say, but she was really upset.”

  “Call Mum,” I said. “Tell her what’s going on. Stay on the line with her until she gets somewhere safe.”

  Jake pressed the phone to his ear.

  I turned to Kevin. “We need a plan.” I yanked at my hair. “Hospital. Fastest route—you get that for me?”

  “On it.” He typed something into his phone.

  “I wanted to call the Seattle PD,” Briar said. “But Mila showed me the text. He said he’d kill Tanya if the police came to the hospital before her. Kevin called in some of his friends who do this type of thing. They’re going to meet Mila at the hospital.”

  “When did this happen?” I asked.

  “About thirty minutes ago,” Kevin said, but worry pulled at his brows. “She has a head start.”

  “The concert traffic is going to snarl things up.”

  I nodded, letting them know I heard. “Car. I need to get out of here. Now.”

  “We’ll stay. Do the media thing here,” Hayden said, waving us off. He pressed a kiss to the side of Briar’s head. Goddammit, I wanted to be doing that to Mila now myself.

  Kevin and I jogged toward the exit, Jake talking to mum, a couple steps behind. Kevin grabbed a set of keys from the waiting roadie and hustled us into the car, keeping his body between us and the reporters who’d turned and started snapping pictures, yelling questions. Breathing was laborious, no way I’d be coherent. Not that I’d waste time on the media when Mila was in danger.

  “Keep talking to me, Mum. Don’t stop.” Jake slid into the car first.

  “Let me talk to her,” I said. Jake handed me the phone.

  “You’ll get there in time, Murphy, love. Mila’s smart.” Mum sniffled into the phone. “She’ll be ’right.”

  “What if she’s not?” I whispered. My throat closed.

  “Don’t think that. Don’t ever think that, son. Stay positive. For Mila.”

  I hissed out a breath. So much to say. I hadn’t told Mila I loved her. She needed to know.

  “What were you doing when Jake called?”

  “Making lunch.”

  Strange to think Mum was seventeen hours ahead of me—living in the next day. A day when I hoped to hold Mila again. My knuckles whitened as I gripped the phone tighter, and my thigh jiggled, but I stayed on my mobile while she finished the drive to the police station. There, I talked to the officer and then to a detective, telling him what I knew. I gave them Mila’s phone number, which she wasn’t answering—I rang her number near constantly while I spoke to my mum.

  As angry as I was that Mila left me after she’d promised to be there, waiting for me, I worried more about her surviving the next few hours. By the time we were on the open highway, another twenty minutes had passed, putting Mila nearly an hour closer to Jordan. To find and hurt her.

  I handed Jake his phone, tilted my head back, and did something I’d never done before. Not when my dad beat my mum, not when house foreclosure was imminent. Not when Mila dumped me the first time.

  I prayed.

  27

  Mila

  Much as I wanted to silence my phone, I couldn’t do that. I had to wait for the next set of instructions from Jordan. But each time Murphy’s name popped up over the last twenty minutes, I inched closer to losing control.

  I shoved my hand into the pocket of my cardigan once again, wishing Murphy didn’t have my pills. Ever since Jordan’s call, I was jittery, on edge. In desperate need of my Xanax, my escape and prison all in one.

  Ironic that I’d finally started to see relief from the symptoms just to fall right back in, harder than before.

  Much as I wanted to talk Noelle out of coming with me, I wasn’t able to do so. Her presence next to me both added to and mitigated some of my worries. “I want you to go to the front desk and wait there,” I said.

  Noelle was stubbornly silent, but her white knuckles showed she was just as scared as I was. I gave in and texted Murph
y. What if this was my last chance to say something to him?

  Jordan called. He has Tanya. I had to come. I love you. Then, now. Always.

  Not enough. I wasn’t sure I’d ever finish telling Murphy everything.

  I swallowed down the bile that threatening to spew forth so many times in the few hours. The cab pulled up in front of the hospital. I leaned forward and handed the cabbie my credit card.

  “Go to the nearest police station,” I begged Noelle.

  “I’m not leaving you,” she said. Her lips trembled before she tightened her jaw. “Though he probably wants to cap me, too.”

  I took her hands in mine, unsurprised hers were clammy, too. “Please? Let the dispatch know I went inside because Jordan threatened Tanya’s life.” Noelle’s nod was reluctant, her face too pale.

  “Lady, I can’t let you walk in there knowing that mad man’s trying to get you. It’s been all over the news.”

  “There’s a pregnant woman inside who’s going to be shot if I don’t respond in person in the next”—I glanced down at my phone—“ten minutes. You don’t have a choice.” I sucked in a breath as I watched his weathered face crumple. “And neither do I.” I hugged Noelle hard. My chin wobbled. “Tell Murphy I love him. That he’s all I think about.”

  I slid out of the car before either Noelle or the driver could say something else. I ran through the front door before my knees turned to mush. I shuddered, wondering if this would be my last chance. To run. To breathe. To love.

  The front atrium’s bright lights slammed against my night vision–sensitive eyes, the bustle of a normal hospital mind-numbing.

  “I need to report a threat to a patient here,” I said, my knees knocking. Please don’t let me get Tanya and her baby killed. I cleared my throat and shoved my phone at the security guard. “He said he was in her room. That he’d kill her.”

  The guard’s bushy white brows shot up, his thin lips flattening further, but he picked up the phone and dialed. Once he’d given the information to the police dispatcher, he looked up at me, his rheumy eyes filled with concern.

  “Shelter in place, young lady. You don’t do anything until the police show up.”

  The warning signal blared from the speakers. I startled hard. Oh, God. What had I done? What if Jordan knew the signal? What if he hurt Tanya now because I’d called in the threat?

  I sprinted away from the desk. The guard yelled at me to stop but I barreled into the elevator, slamming my hand against the Close button, before pressing the button for the third floor.

  Stepping back from the control panel, I sagged against the wall. I gripped the metal bar in the elevator as I sailed upward to face one of my demons.

  I would end this sick fascination of Jordan’s. On my terms. No matter the outcome, I wasn’t going to fear him again.

  I’d left my phone at the guard’s stand. Dammit. I’d wanted the connection to Murphy. I pulled his image up. Mentally, I traced his thick brows, the strong line of his nose. Those sharp cheekbones and stubborn jaw. His soft lips. With his image planted firmly in front of me, I took a deep breath. I would survive this to see Murphy again. If he still wanted me after my stunt tonight.

  When Murphy was upset or angry, he mouthed off, acted out. He’d do something incredibly stupid—like talk to the media—and destroy our chance at a life together. Even with his spontaneous edge that teased the line of self-destruction, I loved him. I loved him because he couldn’t quite control his emotions. Because he cared about me so much. If I made it out of here tonight, I’d tell him that in person.

  Or I might die in this building tonight and Murphy would implode as well. I didn’t like that option near as much.

  The elevator chimed and the doors slid open.

  The series of beeps—hospital code for credible threat and shelter in place—no longer sounded. My footfalls seemed achingly loud in the too-quiet space.

  No one walked the halls. Most of the doors were shut. A hand slid onto my shoulder. I jumped and screamed.

  “Jesus, Mila. You almost gave me a heart attack,” Noelle’s cheeks paled.

  “What do you think happened to me? You were supposed to go to the police station. Please.”

  She swallowed as she scanned the waiting room nearby, noting, as I had, the strange quietness of the place. “ICU is under heavy lockdown, with additional police and security, emergency surgeries sent to other area hospitals, but the rest of the wards and here . . .” she spread her arms out to encompass the main hospital. “This is as barebones as the place can get.”

  “Noelle—”

  “I called Sasha. She moved Tanya down to ICU. As soon as you jumped from the car. I told her why. She said she’d do it.”

  I closed my eyes against the fear trying to take over my mind. The need to flee was consuming. “Thank you. Now go home. Please.”

  “Kevin called. He’s asked some of his cop buddies to find you here.”

  “I have to go in there. I have to be sure he hasn’t hurt Tanya or the baby.”

  The alarm sounded again. I tensed, expecting Jordan to pop out of one of the rooms. She tugged my shoulders and turned me to face her. “You don’t, but I can’t stop you. Just know you aren’t doing this alone. Your job is to stay safe and get home with your sexalicious boyfriend.” She hugged me hard and disappeared to the left—toward the stairs—before I managed to speak past the knot of emotion in my throat.

  I stepped into the L and D ward hall, also silent.

  I pulled out my badge and moved through the quiet, sterile hallway. Two more sets of doors and I was in Tanya’s room, my heart pounding a million miles per second. Her bed lay empty, just as Noelle said it would. I bit my lip.

  I prayed Jordan hadn’t shot her as he’d threatened. The bed sheets were white, not stained in blood. I gripped the edge of the bed, my finger wound tight into the metal bar and hoped for Tanya’s—her baby’s—continued safety.

  I opened my eyes, listening, waiting for Jordan to come out from his hiding place. One minute turned into ten, maybe more. Nothing. Jordan wasn’t here.

  Okay. Something was wrong.

  I touched Tanya’s pillow, the fetal monitor. “I’m so sorry,” I whispered. “Be safe.” Without my phone, I didn’t know what to do next. I stepped out into the hall, moving slowly and with as much caution as I could muster.

  The hall’s bright lighting was a shock. I blinked a few times, trying to acclimate to the difference.

  “Ms. Trask?”

  Three men jogged toward me. I pushed my back against the wall.

  “We’re colleagues of Kevin Granger. He asked us to see you safely back to your hotel room.”

  I opened my mouth but no words came out. Instead, I watched, horror making my vision tunnel, as red blossomed across the man’s chest. Another man—an innocent man—collapsed next to the first. The third pulled his gun from his holster but he, too, was shot. Before I could move, a hand gripped my wrist.

  “So nice of you to join me,” Jordan murmured. “I was beginning to worry you didn’t care about the whiney bitch here as much as I’d anticipated.”

  The barrel of the gun dug into the back of my neck, which was slicked in sweat. Much as I wanted to see someone round the corner, I didn’t doubt that Jordan would shoot another person without thinking twice. Especially Murphy, whom Jordan hated with an obsession bordering on mania.

  The cold metal warmed against my skin; the heat transferring from my body up into the machine designed for destruction.

  I’d missed my chance to run while he’d been shooting those men. Stupid. So stupid.

  This time, I must break the cycle. Even though Murphy disagreed, this was my fight. While Jordan was bigger, stronger and probably faster, I was smarter, lighter and knew this building better. I wasn’t the fearful, incompetent girl Jordan met all those years ago.

  I just needed time to come up with another plan.

  “Why are you doing this?” I asked.

  “Your boyfriend flus
hed me out with his stupid media stunt. The police raided my motel room earlier today. Only sheer luck had me on the other side of the building.”

  I slowed my steps, not wanting to leave the bleeding men. Not wanting Jordan to touch me.

  “Hurry up,” he hissed, poking me in the back of the neck. The gun’s barrel caught my vertebrae and I winced.

  “You’re hurting me,” I whispered. Jordan liked it when I played the helpless damsel. For now, it was my best defense. “Guns scare me. Why did you have to bring a gun, Jordan?” I slowed my steps in time with my question, hoping to distract him long enough for someone to see us.

  “You weren’t paying attention. I told you, you are mine. Now, we’ll finally live together with your mum. A family. Happy.”

  His delusions were beyond insane. I slowed my steps again, wracking my brain for a topic to keep him distracted.

  “The laws here are different. Stalking carries harsher penalties here than in Australia.” I crossed my fingers, hoping Jordan hadn’t bothered to study the differences.

  He snorted. “I’m not stalking you, Mila.”

  As I rounded the next corner, I caught a flash of movement, springy curls flying out behind a hot pink shirt. Noelle. She ducked back into a patient’s room and settle behind the door, leaving it slightly ajar.

  “You killed my chances at conceiving when you murdered my baby.”

  “I did no such thing, Mila. That was an accident. You shouldn’t have tried to ride away from me. All this time, if you’d just done what you were supposed to, we could have avoided you being hurt. The police. This gun. But each time you need more incentive.”

  “You have to threaten the lives of the people I care about to make me stay in the same room as you. I will never, ever love you, Jordan.”

  “Stop lying,” he hissed. He grabbed my arm, his fingers digging deep into my flesh. “You’ve always loved me. I saw it in your eyes, then, whilst you lived with your mother and me. You’ve become such a tease, Mila. I’m going to slap it out of you one of these days. No man likes to be challenged.”