Heath

by Nikki Ash

  I search his eyes for something, anything that will prove he’s still human. But all I see is a crazed man who is so lost in his vengeance he can’t see straight. He can’t think clearly. There will be no negotiating with him. He’s not in a state of mind to see reason. He’s already kidnapped me. Broken the law. He’s not just going to let me go. And it’s clear Helen isn’t going to save me.

  Harrison will find me. He will see I never made it home. He will know Heath took me. He will save me. But what if he can’t? What if Heath did something to him?

  I can’t wait for Harrison to find me. To save me. What if it’s too late?

  My eyes dart around to find something I can use against Heath. An object that will give me the upper hand. I just need to be able to get out of here so I can call for help. Then I remember my cell phone is still in my car. On the side of the road. I need a plan. If I escape but don’t get away, Heath will drag me back, and then who’s to say what he will do to me. As if fate is against me, the light flickers out once more.

  The basement is dark again and Heath releases me to rummage through a box looking for something.

  “Don’t move,” he commands. I can’t see him, but I’m assuming he’s replacing the bulb. This is my chance. Once the light is on, he’s coming for me. I fumble around as I stand and my hands roam over several rakes and shovels hanging on the wall. On the other wall I know is a door, but I can’t tell in the darkness if it will open. I can’t chance it. My only option is to take him down and run up the stairs and through the house.

  He’s fumbling with the bulb. I hear it clanking against the ceiling. His attention is no longer on me and I know it’s now or never. I grab the shovel from the wall, knocking several other tools onto the floor with a loud clatter. As I’m running over to Heath, the entire area illuminates and he’s able to see what I’m doing. He jumps off the chair and comes at me. Bringing the shovel around behind me, I swing it like it’s a baseball bat and Heath is the baseball. His eyes widen momentarily as the shovel hits the side of his body. It’s not enough to immobilize him, but it’s enough that he stumbles back in shock and I’m able to drop the shovel and run up the steps.

  I can hear his heavy footfalls and know he’s right behind me. I don’t turn around. I keep running. I swing the door open and scream for Helen.

  “Helen! Help!”

  And that’s when my body hits something…no, someone. I glance up slightly and see Theo standing there. His face is devoid of all emotion.

  “Theo! Thank God! Please help me. Your dad kidnapped me!”

  When he doesn’t say anything, I start to run around him. I can’t chance Heath catching me. But just as I’m about to pass him, his fingers grip my wrist, halting me in place.

  No. This can’t be happening. Theo wouldn’t…

  I yank my arm away, but it doesn’t budge.

  “Good, you caught the little bitch,” Heath hisses and then snatches me from Theo. “Maybe you are my son after all.” He grins proudly at Theo and Theo visibly straightens, a small smile splaying upon his lips at his father’s rare compliment. And my heart sinks. There’s no getting away. It’s two versus one.

  Remembering Helen is still somewhere around here, I start screaming again. “Help! Someone help! Hel—”

  Heath’s hand covers my mouth with one hand, while his other hand wraps around my body, holding my arms down. He drags me back down into the basement. I kick and flail my body, but it’s no use. Heath flings me onto an old wood chair then releases my mouth.

  “Help!” I scream again as Heath starts to tie my hands up with rope.

  “I saw Helen on my way in,” Theo says. “I locked her in the pantry. She won’t be helping you.”

  Heath smiles darkly and gives his son a nod of approval. “Good boy.”

  Theo’s lips upturn into a sweet smile like a small boy who has just been praised for making his bed or cleaning his room. And suddenly I’m overtaken with fear.

  “You’re both going to rot in hell!” I yell and Heath shoves a piece of cloth into my mouth to silence me. I try to push it out, but without the use of my hands, I only gag myself.

  I watch as Heath ties my ankles to the legs of the chair and when he’s done, he stands back and grins cruelly. “My sweet Catrina. You are finally mine.” He walks around behind me and I try to turn to keep my eyes on him, but I can’t move. I’m tied up too tight. His fingers feather across my shoulder and he brushes my hair to the side. My gaze darts to Theo, who is still standing in place, his eyes furrowing in concern. He isn’t lost yet, but soon he will be.

  I groan as loud as I can to get Theo’s attention. It’s muffled, but he hears it and his eyes meet mine. I beg him with my eyes. Plead for him to do the right thing. And I think he might. His features turn sorrowful, almost remorseful as he watches from the sidelines.

  Heath, on the other hand, mistakes my groaning as a moan, and his lips brush up against my earlobe. “I just want one touch, my sweet Catrina. It’s your blood that runs through her veins.”

  My eyes widen in shock. In fear. He’s not speaking to me. He’s speaking to my mother! Theo must’ve heard him as well because he now looks worried, confused. He opens his mouth to speak, and I think he might tell his father to stop.

  “Go find the orphan,” Heath demands. “We must make him pay for trying to take my sweet Catrina away from me.”

  “You mean from me?” Theo clarifies.

  “She is no longer yours! You don’t deserve her,” Heath lashes out. “You didn’t fight!” He steps away from my chair and stalks toward Theo. “Prove you deserve her. Go handle the mangy mutt and then come back once you’re done.” He leaves no room for argument in his tone and Theo obeys.

  When the basement door shuts, Heath turns and faces me. There’s a sadistic glint in his eye that sends chills down my spine. He cuts across the room and my eyes squeeze shut in fear of what’s to come. I feel the material leave my mouth and my body flying backward. My lids spring open and see his face only a breath away from mine. He’s leaning me back in the chair. My feet still tied down and dangling off the ground. His fingers dig into my chin.

  “I loved you, my sweet Catrina.” His words come out in a choked sob. “I loved you and you betrayed my heart. You chose him over me. You chose to marry him. To have his baby.” He blinks once and a single tear falls. My heart constricts at the reality of what my mother did to this man. She destroyed not only his heart but his mind. I read the events through her eyes, her words, her heart. But it isn’t until now, looking into the worn out eyes of Heath that I’m able to see how muddled her view was.

  “I have loved you my whole life,” he continues, his voice strained with raw emotion. I don’t even think he sees me anymore. “You’ve broken me, Catrina. But still I love you. I see you everywhere I go. In my room. In my bed. In the stables. I can’t get your image out of my head. Everything around me is nothing more than a reminder that I’m forced to exist in this world without you. It is only you I see, my love.”

  His lips brush against mine and I stay frozen in place. I should bite him or head butt him, do something to hurt him, but I do nothing. Because he is already hurting. And my heart is aching for him.

  “Heath,” I whisper against his lips. “I’m sorry for what she did to you. You didn’t deserve what she did. You deserved to be loved.”

  Heath backs up slightly and his eyes roam over my face. “She loved me,” he croaks out. “She loved me the only way she knew how. Like crazy.”

  His eyes are filled with unshed tears. His face showing of defeat, of a man who has lost everything.

  Harrison

  “I THINK HE’S GOING TO hurt her.”

  Those words play over and over in my head as I haul ass through town on a mission. A mission to save my girl from that fucking monster.

  Helen called me bawling her eyes out. Said Heath dragged in a kicking and screaming Cat before hauling her downstairs into the basement. I’d been trying to figure out what the fuc
k she was going on about when I heard a scuffle and the line went dead.

  “I think he’s going to hurt her.”

  I roll through a stop sign once I realize no cars are coming and gas it again. As I drive, I see her Mustang abandoned on the side of the road. That motherfucker just took her. Right from her car.

  “I think he’s going to hurt her.”

  Why?

  All because of some sick revenge plan?

  I’ve lived with Heath my entire life. He’s a dick of epic proportions. Plays games all the damn time. But, until Cat, I never assumed him to be so violently out of control. It’s like her arrival detonated a bomb inside him. With us leaving last week, I thought that was the end of it. He’d move the hell on and go find someone else to terrorize. Instead, it’s as though he’s been lying low and biding his time. Waiting for the right moment to pounce.

  But why Cat?

  I get why he hates Elliot. Elliot stole the love of his life right from his grasp. I never really understood the obsession he had with Catrina. If she truly loved him, would she have left him to marry some other man in the first place? Love doesn’t work like that. Love isn’t selfish. Love is fierce and feral and out of control, but it’s also wholesome and good. How is leaving the one you love for the affection of another considered good? I’m an outsider looking in, but it’s clear as day to me that Catrina Lincoln didn’t love Heath like he loved her.

  Heath, on the other hand…

  His love for her is his existence. His reason for being. His love for her dictates his every move. His every emotion. I read and memorized those journals. Everything he did was for her. Until death and thereafter. It’s like his love for her became a beast. A beast hell-bent on destroying everything responsible for taking her away from him.

  And Cat?

  I suppose she took from him too. The moment she was born and her mother took her last breath, Cat was written into Heath’s ultimate revenge plan. His beast is hungry to devour every last piece of what he thinks has wronged him.

  If he kills her…

  Surely not. Surely he wouldn’t harm one hair on her head.

  My stomach churns with worry. He’s lost it. No longer the calculating, intelligent man. It’s as though he’s finally given in to the madness that’s been edging on him more and more through the years. I should have taken her and run far away so we’d never have to see him again. But I thought it was over. That he’d admit defeat and move on.

  I’ll never assume again when it comes to my girl.

  I slam on the brakes and am off the bike before the roar of the engine has stopped echoing through the air. Stalking inside, I make a beeline toward the kitchen. Someone slaps at the door inside the pantry. A chair is wedged under the door handle.

  “Cat!” I call out and rush to the door, yanking the chair away.

  But when I open the door, Helen falls into my arms, sobbing. I give her a squeeze before pulling away to inspect her.

  “Are you okay?” I demand.

  “Y-Yes, but get downstairs!”

  I release her and stalk toward the basement door. Before I can reach it, Theo stands in my way. His chin is lifted in defiance and his brown eyes are hot with anger.

  “Get out of my way,” I growl.

  “She belongs with us,” he says, his voice shaking.

  “Move.”

  He squares his shoulders as though it’ll make him bigger and taller. A roar of anger rushes through me as I grab the prick by the throat. I sling my fist across his jaw and he crumples to the floor like a sack of potatoes. Pushing past him, I start down the stairs where I hear Cat’s frantic crying.

  As I reach the bottom, I halt my movements. Cat is sitting in a wooden chair. Her hands and legs both bound with rope. Heath is bent at the waist, his fingers holding her chin in place. His face only a breath away from hers. His body is coiled tight with fury. She’s so small and fragile in his grip.

  “Let her go,” I command, my voice steady despite the chaotic storm of emotions brewing inside me.

  He stiffens and cocks his head to the side to regard me. Gone is the shrewd, evil glare of a madman. In its place is someone lost. Broken and ravaged by grief. His wild eyes are glassy with unshed tears and his dark brows are furled together. He stares at me as though I’m a surprise he didn’t see coming.

  I was always coming.

  My intentions with Cat have been clear from the start. She’s mine and I would do anything to protect her. That’s what love is. It’s not revenge and hate and manipulation. Love is walking through fire, uncaring if you get burned, to get to where the other half of your heart is.

  “She chose you,” he says harshly, his voice catching with emotion. “Why?”

  Stepping closer, I hold up a hand to calm him. “We chose each other. Love isn’t one-sided, Heath.”

  He flinches at my words. “You don’t know anything, orphan.”

  My gaze slides over to Cat’s. Tears stream silently down her cheeks. Her green eyes practically glow with love and relief at seeing me.

  “I know you spent your entire life letting one thing drive you. Revenge,” I say softly.

  “Because they deserved it!” he roars, shaking Cat in his grip.

  Another step.

  “Not her. Not Cat. She did nothing to you,” I argue. “Just like I never did anything to you.”

  “You think life is fair, boy?” he bellows at me. “You think life is tit for tat? That if you’re good and love someone it’ll all just work the fuck out?” His brown eyes flame with malevolence. “It doesn’t work the fuck out. No matter how much you love someone, money can just take them away. Fucking poof!”

  I shake my head. “No.”

  “Don’t tell me no,” he snarls. “I’ve been around a lot fucking longer than you. I know how this world works.”

  “No, you know how your world works. But the rest of the world?” I say, taking another step closer. “We follow our hearts. Cat couldn’t care less about money or things. She just wants to love and be loved back. I’m going to marry her and we’re going to be happy, Heath. No one can stop us. Not even you or your ominous agendas or a lifetime of revenge.”

  His head snaps around and he shakes Cat again. “Why? Why did you choose him? Why didn’t she choose me? She chose Elliot and I gave her everything that was ever important to me. I gave her so much fucking love, Cat. So why the fuck did she choose him?”

  Cat sobs. “I-I don’t know. I’m sorry.” Her eyes meet mine as I approach. I’m seconds from whacking him over the head, but she gives me a look that says to chill.

  “Your apologies mean nothing to me,” Heath growls. “It can’t be fixed. Nothing will bring her back.”

  “Heath,” Cat whispers and he turns his attention back to her. “I miss her too,” she admits softly. “I never even knew her, but I miss her so much.”

  Heath nods slowly, his eyes trained on Cat for several long seconds. Then, he shocks the hell out of both of us when he undoes the ropes that are tying her down to the chair. First, her legs and then her hands.

  When he’s done, he backs up slowly. But before he’s out of her reach, Cat reaches up and grips his wrist. He allows the action. His shoulders hunch and his head hangs in defeat. In a surprising move, she stands up and hugs him. At first he’s stiff. His body even shakes as though he’ll toss her onto the floor. But then, his arms wrap around her and he squeezes her so tight I’m afraid he’ll break her.

  I watch, stunned, as the mean man who dictated every move my entire life trembles and a harsh, ragged sound escapes him. Not crying. No, it’s far more sad and awful. Like his soul is thrashing and screaming, begging for escape from his throat. He clings to my girl as though their embrace answers questions for him—as though it forgives every terrible thing he’s done.

  Once the guttural sounds coming from him grow silent, I step forward and nudge his shoulder. He jerks away from her and steps back. She flings herself into my arms and I kiss her desperately.


  Safe.

  She’s safe with me.

  Safe and loved and adored and cherished.

  I’ll never let her go.

  “You’re mine until the end of time, Cat Lincoln.”

  “You’re mine too,” she sobs against my lips.

  I possess her in another crushing kiss as my palms roam all over her, checking to make sure she’s okay. Our kiss ends and I hug her to my chest. Heath watches us with a sullen expression. The heel of his hand is rubbing at his chest as he watches us with such longing. Not as though he wants her, but as though he wants what we have.

  “It hurts,” he rasps as he absently rubs at his chest. His eyes fall to the floor. “It hurts so bad. The emptiness claws at me. It shreds every part of me. Nothing ever stops it. I bleed every goddamn day, never drying up. This brutal cage of a body imprisons my soul—a dark, heavy soul who only wants his other half.” His hand falls to his side as he looks up at us again. “I don’t know what it feels like to not hurt.”

  I stroke my fingers through Cat’s hair as I murmur, “I hope one day you will.”

  His lips press together and no more words come out. Heath isn’t apologetic or remorseful. He’s just Heath. What I do get from him is a look of resignation in his eyes. He’s tired. Tired of trying so hard and never finding the peace he’s looking for. Whatever he’s looking for won’t be found through us. We’re not a part of his world, no matter how hard he tries to make it happen.

  Scooping my soon-to-be bride into my arms, I carry her toward the steps. Together, we climb from hell and find our heaven.

  And the sad, defeated devil stays where he belongs.

  Emily

  Present…

  “YOU’RE CRYING, MOM,” I SAY, my voice trembling with my own emotion.

  She swipes away her tears. “Not all stories are happy. His certainly wasn’t.”

  Leaning into her, I hug my mother tight and inhale her familiar scent. My mom has always been loving and fun and kind. Where the other mothers cared about money and status and achievements, my mom only cared about one thing.