Black Heart

by Jenny Lynn

  “Breanne!”

  I pushed through branches, they snapped back as I ran past. My lungs were burning but I pushed through. There would be no going back, I would never get another chance to escape. I would need to push my body, to keep running, and never look back.

  17

  I heard crashing in the distance and knew Randy must be chasing me. My feet felt as if they were on fire but I continued to run. There was another cottage in the distance; I sprinted for it and whipped around the side, hiding behind a stack of firewood. I pressed my hands to my mouth to try to keep quiet. I was gasping for breath between my fingers. Though my heart was hammering in my chest, I remained still. Suddenly I heard footsteps as they grew closer. I peeked through a space in the stack of firewood: Randy stepped into the clearing. Like a trained predator, he scanned the space. His demeanor was calm and precise, like a machine with a singular task. Randy then took off and continued searching for me.

  For a while I stayed put, too afraid to move. It was getting cold and dark outside and my legs were beginning to tremble. I stood from my hiding place and made my way to the front door of this cottage. There was a car parked nearby, meaning someone must be here who could help me. I hesitated, looked at the woods surrounding me for any sign of Randy, then I knocked on the door. I heard footsteps inside and felt a surge of hope. The door swung open and a woman stood there, I burst into tears.

  “Help me, please,” I told her. She looked me over then placed a hand on my shoulder.

  “Heaven's child, what happened to you? Come inside.” She guided me into the warm cabin and over towards a fire that was crackling in the hearth. The flames heated my skin but I couldn’t stop from shivering. “Where did you come from? What happened?”

  “My name is Breanne Taylor, I’ve been kidnapped by a man named Randy Wilkes. Please, I need to use your phone.”

  “I thought you looked familiar, you poor thing. Let me pour you a cup of tea and I’ll call the police. You just relax, after all you’ve been through.”

  She went to the kitchen and I heard her rummaging, then in a few minutes she came back and held a steaming mug out to me. I held it in my hands, felt its soothing warmth, and thanked her. “I’ll be right back,” she told me. I stared into the flames, dancing against the dark bricks, still feeling on edge. I wouldn’t feel safe until I was with Nicholas, and even then, I knew it would take me a while to recover from my ordeal. I sipped at the tea, watching the twisting, billowing steam rise above; it was comforting.

  I heard footsteps coming closer and jumped when a hand was placed on my shoulder. “It’s just me dear,” said the woman. “I called the police. They are on their way.”

  “Oh, thank you,” I sighed in relief. I was close to crying. “I didn’t get your name.”

  “Drink your tea dear. You can call me Miss Bell.”

  “Thank you Miss Bell,” I told her, taking another sip of the comforting tea. My head was spinning, after what I had been through I wasn’t surprised I was starting to feel disoriented. “Could I use your bathroom?”

  “Of course, it’s in the back,” she told me.

  I stood on shaky legs and headed for the back of the quaint log cabin where I found the bathroom. I turned the faucet on with a creak and splashed my face with cool water. It felt nice but did nothing to clear the fog creeping into my mind. I stared at my reflection, wondering how deeply this would affect me. The media circus that would surround Nicholas and I like vultures, eclipsing our wedding. I just wanted to crawl into his arms and sleep, he would know how to make everything better. I wanted nothing more than to walk towards him and say my vows. I wanted a lifetime with the man I loved.

  I left the bathroom and something in the next room caught my eye. There was a cell phone on a dresser by the door in the bedroom. My heart leapt in my chest, I needed to hear his voice. I’m sure Miss Bell wouldn’t mind. I picked it up and dialed Nicholas. It only rang once.

  “Hello?” at the sound of his voice, tears started to prick the corners of my eyes. “Hello?” he repeated.

  “Nicholas, it’s me,” I said.

  “Oh my god, Breanne. Where are you? Are you okay?”

  “I’m in the woods, a cottage. Miss Bell.” My head was spinning, it was difficult to form sentences. “She called the police.”

  “When?” Nicholas asked, I could hear him moving. “I’m coming to you.”

  “I don’t know, maybe five minutes ago.” I needed to sit down.

  “The police should have called me immediately, I haven’t heard from them. Where are you, Breanne?”

  “I don’t know,” I said. My limbs felt heavy. So heavy. I noticed a picture frame on the dresser I hadn’t seen when I grabbed the phone. I picked it up and held it closer to my eyes. Though my vision was blurry, I could make out two people in the photograph: The woman was younger, but familiar somehow. She was standing with a young boy, hugging him close. Her wrist — I recognized that mark on her wrist.

  “I need to go,” I whispered to Nicholas. I hung up when he was protesting. I needed to get out of this place, fast. I replaced the frame and the phone on the dresser, moving towards the front door with shaky legs.

  “Where are you going, dear? The police are on their way,” said Miss Bell.

  “Just outside for air,” I lied. I felt like I was moving in slow motion and fell against the wall, bracing myself.

  “You should have a seat,” she told me.

  “The tea,” I said. “What did you do to me?”

  “I’m trying to help you relax, Breanne.”

  “What’s your name?” I asked her, scared to hear her say the answer.

  “Miss Bell,” she answered.

  “It’s Sarah, isn’t it?” I slid to the floor, my legs giving way. She stood and shook her head at me.

  “You shouldn’t have run. You don’t understand, it’s who he is. He needs this.”

  My hands were trembling as I reached for the door handle, but it opened from the outside. Randy stood there, glaring down at me. Pitch darkness behind him he looked tall and imposing.

  “Almost, Breanne, almost,” he mocked, a smirk on his face. He stepped over me and hugged Sarah, kissing her on the cheek. “Thank you for always looking out for me, Sarah.”

  “Always dear,” she told him. “Need my help?”

  “I’ve got this, you’ve been a big help,” he told her. He scooped me up, I tried to kick and hit him but whatever Sarah had slipped into my tea made me weaker.

  “She was a bit high profile, Randy. I don’t think you can keep her long, you should go into hiding soon. They won’t stop looking for her.”

  “I know,” he said. “One more day. Then I’ll leave her somewhere they can find her.”

  My heart started to race. I understood he didn’t mean alive. He carried me out into the woods. It was dark outside. My head dropped back and I watched the trees and branches overhead in a canopy as he carried me. There was no way I could fight back, no way he would let me go now. No way I could trick him again and escape. A tear trickled out of my eye and down my cheek. Back we went, past the woods and trees I had run through. If only I had kept running, if only I had known Sarah was nearby helping. Of course he had someone helping him, it was how he stayed hidden. How he stayed off the radar.

  The cabin loomed in the distance and each step brought me closer. I knew in my heart once we were inside I would never see the outside world again. Randy pulled open the door, letting it slam violently in thinly veiled anger, and carried me back downstairs. Back to that room. Back to the bed, where he chained me again. “This chain is never coming off again,” he told me, tugging it to prove how trapped I was.

  “Sarah helps you. Has she always helped you?” I asked.

  “She found these cabins. You don’t understand, none of you do. I was born this way, and I can’t suppress it. Why should I? Why would I be made this way if I wasn’t meant to hunt.”

  “Randy, you’re sick,” I told him. “You need help. You
need treatment.”

  “I had treatment,” he scoffed. “All it taught me was how to hide my urges better. But Doctor Shaffer saw through it, you saw through it. That’s when I knew I needed to escape. I’d never be free otherwise.”

  “What happens now?” I asked.

  “Sarah and I are going to have dinner, we’re going to talk about what happens next.”

  “You mean how to get rid of me,” I said. It wasn’t a question.

  “Everything starts and ends with a careful plan, Breanne. You know that. You knew this wouldn’t have a happy ending for you.”

  “I won’t give you what you want. I won’t wear the clothes,” I told him. I would stay strong, I wouldn’t give in.

  He gave me a strange look. “You don’t need to,” he told me. “I’m not going to pretend you’re anyone else. You can be Breanne.” Randy walked away, leaving me trembling beside the bed the heavy chain around my ankle. I watched as he walked up the steps and disappeared from sight. While I remained down here contemplating what was going to happen to me, he would be planning with Sarah how he was going to get away with it.

  I crawled onto the bed and curled up. I wanted to cry, I wanted to scream, but there was no point. It was hopeless. I replayed my last conversation with Nicholas in my head over and over again. I wish I had told him how much I loved him, that he had changed my life and been everything I needed in a partner. Now I was never going to see him again. Our wedding was never going to happen. I let the tears fall for the future I would never have. The thought rippled through me, and I sobbed. I curled my arms around myself, facing the wall.

  I stayed like that, hours passed. Suddenly I could hear banging and the voices upstairs got angry, shouting and screams. There was stomping on the wooden floor that echoed through the ceiling. They must be having a disagreement, I thought. Then it got quiet. I heard the lock slide out of the door at the top of the stairs, my heart started to race. This was it, he was coming for me. I trembled, facing the wall and refusing to turn around as footsteps stomped down the stairs. They paused at the bottom of the steps, then came closer. I shut my eyes tight, it was time. It was going to happen. The steps were beside me now, stopped by the bed, then a hand on my shoulder. I flinched, a strong hand on my skin causing me to shake in fear.

  “Breanne.”

  That voice was not Randy’s. I knew that voice. But it couldn’t be. I whipped over, stared up into Nicholas’ eyes and launched myself into his arms. I cried against his neck while he held me close, running his hands over my hair. “I’m here Breanne, I’ve got you. It’s over,” he whispered in my ear. He wrapped me into his arms and I felt myself go limp. I was safe, I was rescued. I didn’t know how, but the nightmare was over.

  18

  I passed Randy and Sarah on the way out of the house, seated and handcuffed, watched at gunpoint by two men and a woman in black. A third man stepped forward.

  “We’ll wait here for the police, you take her home, Mister Blackstone.”

  “Thanks Jax.”

  He guided me past, but I stopped. I stared at Randy, he looked up from the floor and glared at me. “I’m going to make sure you go to prison this time, Randy. Both of you. You’re finished.” Sarah was crying but he didn’t say anything in reply, and I didn’t care. I had survived this. I was a survivor.

  Nicholas wouldn’t take his hands off me, holding me close as we walked outside, as if I would float away from him if he let go. As if he was terrified to lose me again. I didn’t blame him. I was also terrified.

  I barely remember the long drive back to Chicago, in the back of the Bentley while Nicholas held onto me. I curled against him, wanting to ask how he found me but now was not the time for questions. I just wanted to feel the relief coursing through me that the ordeal was over.

  It took hours to get back to Chicago, we must have been far outside of the city. When the city lights grew visible out the window my heart did a small leap. Home. We wound through the streets, daylight breaking causing the buildings to sparkle in the sunlight. We pulled up to the curb outside our building and Nicholas opened the door, guiding me in through the front doors. The doorman looked at me, wide-eyed. “Miss Taylor,” he gasped.

  “We’re not to be disturbed, by anyone,” Nicholas told him. The man nodded. We walked past to the elevators then up to the top floor. They opened and I stepped inside. Home, I really was home. I turned to face him.

  “How?” I asked.

  “Come with me,” Nicholas told me. “Let’s get you out of those clothes, into a warm bath. Then we can talk after.”

  Nicholas walked me to the bathroom, started pouring water into the tub, checking the temperature. I wanted to rinse away everything that had happened. I stripped and stepped into the water, it wrapped around my skin, slowly rising. I closed my eyes, losing myself. Nicholas sat on the edge of the tub, he ran his hand over my cheek. As hard as this had been on me, I realized it had been hard on him too. I disappeared from his life without a trace.

  A phone rang, Nicholas checked the display then looked at me. “I need to take this,” he said.

  “It’s okay,” I said.

  He left the room and I tilted my head under the water. I washed my hair, scrubbed at my body. As if I could scrub the trauma of my abduction off of me, like a stain to be cleaned off my skin. When I felt better, I stepped out of the bath and wrapped myself in a thick cotton robe. In the bedroom I pulled on a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants, tying my wet hair back. I walked into the living room where Nicholas was finishing up his conversation. He hung the phone up and turned to see me. We stood, facing each other. I rushed towards him and was wrapped in his arms. I lifted my face to his and kissed him. He held me, kissing back just as desperately. We stayed like that, our lips moving together as if for the first time, until he finally broke away and pressed his head to my neck.

  “I thought I lost you forever,” he said with a shaky voice.

  “I thought the same. Nicholas, I’m so sorry for leaving at night without telling you. If I hadn’t, none of this would have happened.”

  “It’s not your fault Breanne, Randy was determined. He was trying to lure you.”

  “It worked,” I sighed.

  “Come, sit down on the couch. Let’s talk through everything, the police are on their way. They need to question you.”

  “Okay,” I told him.

  “Why did you leave?”

  “I got a text from Tabitha’s phone, saying she was at a bar and needed me to bring her cash. I thought I could be there and back before you woke up. It was a sketchy dive bar, I went in to look for her. She texted to tell me she was by the back. When I made my way over there, someone grabbed me. I know now it was Randy using her phone.”

  “Witnesses placed you at the bar, but no one could say where you went afterward.”

  “I was knocked out. When I woke up I was in the cabin. He kept trying to manipulate me, like the others, but it wouldn’t work with me. I understood his psychology too well, I knew if I gave him what he wanted he would kill me. So I resisted. I was able to convince him I could be a confidante, like Sarah had been. I asked for a bath, had him undo the chain. When he was distracted I escaped, out the cabin and through the woods. It was terrifying, he chased me.”

  Nicholas rubbed my arms. “You’re so brave, Breanne.”

  “I found another cabin. I knocked, went inside. I didn’t know it was Sarah, that she was helping Randy. She made me tea, spiked it with something. She told me she called the police. I went to the washroom, then saw her phone.”

  “That’s when you called me,” Nicholas added.

  “Yes. But I saw a picture on the dresser and recognized Randy. I realized who she must be; realized the danger I was in. I tried to escape, but whatever she had given me was too strong. Randy showed up and carried me back. I thought it was over, I thought I would never see daylight again. But then you found me. How did you find me, Nicholas?”

  “When I woke up and you were gone, I k
new something was wrong. I contacted the police right away. They thought Randy was long gone, with no other local leads they questioned Mark. He had no alibi. I couldn’t leave the investigation in their hands so I hired a private investigative firm, the best I could find.”

  “The people who were with you? Jax?” I asked.

  “Yes. Jax is ex-military, works as a private investigator now. One of the best. He questioned everyone; Mark, Tabitha, people on campus, the bar witnesses. Even Doctor Shaffer. We were sure Randy was behind this, but we had no idea where he went. He left no paper trail, had no cards or cell phone. But we figured out a lot about his past. Then I got your phone call. We traced it to a Sarah Bell, and then it clicked. Sarah, the S. We knew it was connected. We traced her cell, found her cottage in Shawnee. We staked it out, followed her when she left. Randy opened the door for her at the second cabin. That’s when we moved in, secured them both. I saw the locked door and went downstairs. I didn’t know if you would be there, if you were still alive. But I hoped, with each step I hoped. Finding you, Breanne, you have no idea how relieved I was.”

  “I never thought I’d see you again. When Randy captured me for the second time, I thought it was all over.”

  “You were smart to call me. You’re so strong, Breanne, you knew enough about Randy to survive this.”

  Nicholas’ phone rang, “Yes? Let them up.” He hung up then turned to look at me. “The police are here.”

  “Can I have five minutes to call my parents?”

  “Of course. We’ll be here when you’re ready.”

  I headed out of the room and into Nicholas’ office, closing the door behind me. I used the phone in his office to dial my parents. When my mom answered, fresh tears filled my eyes. “Mom, it’s me,” I said.