Cole: A Romantic Thriller Novel (For The Love Of A Good Woman Book 2)

by Giulia Lagomarsino

  I looked down the hall, but I saw no movement. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t see Derek and I didn’t want to go look for him. The house was dark and I most likely wouldn’t see anyone if they were more than a few feet from me. If I stayed, I was a sitting duck and he would come for me eventually. If I stayed right where I was, I would have a good chance at taking him out if I could shoot straight. However, Cole was lying here unconscious and I had no idea what was going on with Hunter, Lola, and Derek. If they were injured, which they most likely were since they weren’t here in the house protecting me, they might need immediate medical attention and the longer I waited, the less likely it was they would survive. On the other hand, if four highly trained people couldn’t take out this guy, what chance did I stand?

  I did have one thing that no one else had. I had power over this guy because I was the one he wanted. If I could hide some weapons on myself, maybe I had a chance at killing him. I didn’t want to take Cole’s weapon, but I was pretty sure he carried multiple guns at all times over the last few days. I reached down to his ankle and found a small gun tucked under his pants. I pulled it out and tucked it into my pants at the small of my back. I picked my gun back up and crept down the hall. The song changed to My Boyfriend’s Back. This guy was creepy. Music to kill by.

  When I reached the end of the hall I looked around the open space. I couldn’t see very far, but there was a figure huddling in the corner. I slowly approached it with my weapon pointed directly at it. As I got closer, I could see it was Derek and he was passed out. I turned around and looked at the room again and backed my way over to Derek. I slowly bent down, me eyes staying trained on the room with my gun. I glanced quickly and felt for a pulse. There was a pulse, but it felt slower than it should. From this point I could see everywhere in the cabin except the end of the hall and into the bedroom. Where was this guy hiding? I squinted, hoping to pick out some shadow or something that could tell me where this guy had gone. I still couldn’t find anything. What do I do now? He wasn’t anywhere I could see.

  Chains started to play next and I rolled my eyes at his blatantly obvious attempt at telling me what he had in store for me. I felt like shouting, Enough already! Just come shoot me and get it over with, but I wasn’t stupid. I sat there waiting next to Derek for this sicko to make some move for close to ten minutes. He played song after song with some reference to the time I was in captivity. It was starting to get to me and I willed myself to stay strong. I would not give in to him. Finally, I saw movement out the kitchen window. It was just for a second, but I straightened and prepared to shoot anything that moved.

  The back door flew open and I startled for a moment before renewing my position. After a moment, Lola walked through the door with blood dripping down her face. In the next instant, I saw that there was an arm around her neck and someone walking behind her. My heart started thumping as I considered what to do. I wasn’t a good enough shot to take him out without hitting Lola. I’m not sure she would want me to try. He walked towards me with his gun trained on Lola’s head.

  “Why don’t you drop the gun, Lexi. I would like to play a game with you, but I’m afraid you can’t have a weapon. So, here’s what’s going to happen. You are going to put down your weapon and I won’t shoot your friend here. Of course, if you don’t want to, I’ll just shoot her anyway and you can watch her die. What’s it going to be?”

  Lola gave a slight shake of her head, but I couldn’t decide if she was telling me not to give in or not to take the chance. I weighed my options in my head, but it didn’t seem that I had much choice. I didn’t want to be responsible for Lola dying, but I knew that giving in to him would result in my death too. I had to give someone a chance to find me. I escaped once, I could do it again. Besides, Cole could wake up any second and rescue us. Decision made, I lowered my weapon, but made sure to keep the gun at the small of my back concealed. I wasn’t very good with guns since it had been so long since I had fired one, so I decided that I would have to save it for a really good opportunity.

  I knelt down and placed the gun on the ground. As I stood I raised my arms in a sign of surrender. Lola had a murderous look on her face and I had a bad feeling it was aimed at me. I couldn’t think about that now. I needed to stay focused and figure out a way out of here.

  “Come closer and pull up a chair.”

  I did as he said and sat down. He pushed Lola towards me and she swayed as she stepped towards me. It appeared Lola wasn’t in fighting form and might not be that much help. She stumbled over to me and barely caught a roll of tape that he threw at her.

  “Tape her hands to the chair back.”

  Lola shot me a sad look and pulled one hand slightly behind me and taped my wrist to the chair, then repeated it with the other wrist. As she did, I felt the bite of the shard of glass. Maybe I could work the glass down my sleeve and cut myself free. When she was done he directed her to the other chair and tied her the same way.

  “See how great this all works out? I not only get to finish my game with you, but I can play one with her also.” He got down in my face and I could feel his rancid breath hitting my cheek. I had to hold back the vomit that was rising in my throat. I took a few deep breaths to calm my nerves and looked back at him.

  “Can you at least tell me your name? I’m tired of calling you The Psycho.”

  Lightning fast, his fist flew out and hit me across the cheek. I heard a crunch as pain radiated all over my face and I was pretty sure he had cracked my cheekbone. Tears leaked down my face and I could feel sobs building in my chest, but I forced them back down. He didn’t deserve any more of my tears. Lola shot me a look that told me to shut up, but at this point I really didn’t have much to lose. I wanted to live, but I was tired of this guy dictating my life.

  “I’m surprised you don’t know my name. It’s Jeffrey. You helped put my brother away all those years ago. He was innocent of course. He didn’t even know I was alive. See, when I was young my parents thought that I was odd. I liked to play with fire, knives, guns, anything that could help me snuff out life.” He huffed out a laugh and continued. “This one time I took the family cat and strung him up by his paws from a tree. Then I took a torch and put it under his belly until he cried. It didn’t take long. I kept doing that over and over, watching with fascination at how he would struggle to get away. Obviously he couldn’t. Then I took a knife and cut marks all over his body. I got scratched up quite a bit for that one, so I chopped off all his paws. Taught that little fucker a lesson. The last thing I did was untie the rope from the tree and dangle him over a pot of boiling water.” He started laughing and could barely get out his sentence. “That little shit kept…squirming to get away and even tried.. to bite me. But when I lowered him down into that water, ahh….to watch the life drain from something is a beautiful thing. To see how quickly everything can just…disappear.”

  He threw his head back in maniacal laughter and I knew we were in for a bad night. “They decided after that I should be in a mental institution, but I convinced them otherwise. Do you know they actually tried to kill me in a fire? What kind of parents try to kill their own child? Of course, Henry never knew about any of that. They wanted to protect his delicate sensibilities.” He was lost in thought for a minute before shaking his head and looking back at me. “Anyway, I escaped and went on to complete my work. When I killed your parents, I convinced Henry that he should take my place. You know, death isn’t always the easy way out. It can be very painful and I reminded him of that. He gladly took my place. Little fucker was so scared, he didn’t even try to defend himself,” he said laughing. “Then I had to go get rid of dear old Mom and Dad. I couldn’t have Henry going to them for help. I didn’t make them suffer. I just ran them off a cliff in the middle of the night. I read that they stayed alive for a good twelve hours afterwards.”

  I looked over at Lola and she had a look of fear on her face that matched my own. He walked over to me and ran his hand down my face. I cringed back f
rom him, not wanting his filthy hands on me.

  “Let’s begin. Should we introduce Lola to some of our games first?” I was shaking so bad that my teeth were rattling, but I didn’t want anyone else to experience what I had. It was horrible and I couldn’t watch someone else suffer as I had.

  “Please don’t.” It came out as a whisper. He leaned into her with a smile on his face. He reached behind him slowly and I held my breath, waiting for him to pull out his knife. I couldn’t stand to watch this, but it was like a car wreck. I couldn’t look away. I decided that this was my opportunity to work on the tape. I worked the glass down the length of my sleeve, feeling little cuts in my skin. I kept my breathing as steady as possible as I watched him pull a marker out of his back pocket. He wiggled it in front of her face and held up a finger.

  “I’ll be right back. Just let me grab a visual aide.” He walked down the hall towards the bathroom and I gripped the shard of glass in my hand and started cutting. I had imagined it would cut easily, but I cut myself several times and could feel blood start to leak down my hand, making it hard to grasp the glass. I had to stop when he walked back into the room a moment later. He was carrying a small mirror. He held it up for us to see and started laughing.

  “Get it. A visual aide. Geez, I crack myself up. Anyway back to the task at hand.” He knelt down in front of Lola and started drawing a dotted line across her forehead. I started cutting the tape again since he was distracted, but paused at his next words. “This line represents where I am going to cut you with a knife. When we’re done, I’m going to peel back your scalp and then Lexie and I will crack that nut open and see what’s inside.”

  He smiled and rapped her on the head with his knuckles. I heard Lola start crying as he resumed his drawing around her scalp. I started sawing furiously at the tape around my wrist and was relieved when it gave way. I passed the shard of glass to my other hand and continued on. He picked up the knife from the table and cut the tape around one wrist and then wrapped the tape around the chair, twisted it several times to make a rope and then taped it to her wrist. She could move her arm, but only to mid-chest.

  “Do be a dear and hold this up for me. I want you to be able to see my handy work,” he said as he held the mirror out to her.

  She started shaking her head and her crying turned into sobs. He got angry with her and punched her hard in the face.

  “I told you to do something, Lola. Now, if you don’t cooperate, I’ll just go slower and make it more painful for you.”

  She looked over at me and was pleading me with her eyes to save her. I started to cry and continued to saw. He picked up the knife and pressed it into her forehead and started to cut. Her screams tore through me and I dropped the shard of glass. I couldn’t take anymore and I started pulling at the tape with my free hand. I thought momentarily about pulling my gun, but I couldn’t risk it with a knife pressed to her head. I couldn’t say what I hoped to accomplish by getting myself free, except that I wanted to distract him from the pain he was causing her. He caught the movement and ran over to me, shoving my chair over on its side. My head hit the ground with such force I saw spots. My body had fallen out of the chair and he started kicking me in the stomach. I felt several ribs crack and could hardly draw in a breath.

  “You stupid bitch! You interrupted my game and now you’re going to pay.”

  He pulled his leg back to kick me again and I knew this was my last chance. I pulled the gun from behind my back and pulled the trigger several times, hitting him in the chest, or at least I hoped I did. He looked stunned for a minute and then collapsed to the ground. I was shaking so bad that I had to set down my gun or I might shoot something else. I laid my head down on the ground and tried to take a steady breath in, but my breath was coming in short pants and I wasn’t sure how long I could stave off the oncoming panic attack.

  It was over. He was lying dead on the ground, but I couldn’t make my brain process that. Spots danced in front of my eyes and I could feel the darkness creeping in. Then a hand touched my arm and I jerked back, scared that Jeffrey was somehow back from the dead, ready to finish what he started. When I looked up though, I saw the man I loved staring at me with concern on his face.

  “It’s okay, sweetheart. I’m here.” My breathing slowed a little at the sight of him. I hadn’t known if he was alive or dead and I felt a weight lift from my chest knowing he was going to be okay.

  “Is he dead?”

  “Yeah, sweetheart. You got him. Here, let me get this tape off you.”

  He maneuvered me so that he could cut the tape from my other wrist. An arm swung out and jammed a knife into Cole’s ribs. I saw the shock on his face. I heard the groan of pain and saw his face twist in agony. Jeffrey yanked the knife out of him and Cole collapsed to the ground.

  Jeffrey inched closer to Cole and lifted his hand with strength he shouldn’t have to stab Cole again. Cole’s hand shot out to the side, grabbing my gun and a second later, a bloom of red appeared on Jeffrey’s forehead. He fell to the ground and his sightless eyes stared at me. Cole held his hand steady for a minute before he collapsed back to the ground.

  I scrambled to my knees and leaned in over Cole’s body. He was taking short breaths and staring at the ceiling. Beads of sweat were on his forehead and his eyes were glassy as he tried to look at me.

  “Cole, oh my God. Tell me what to do. What do I do?” I was in hysterics and I could hear it, but I was on overload right now and there was no shutting it down. He gasped for breath and started stuttering out directions.

  “Go to the… bathroom. Get…clean towel…put pressure on….hole.”

  I ran to the bathroom and grabbed a clean towel and hurried back to Cole’s side. I vaguely felt pain as I ran, but the adrenaline was keeping it at bay. I ripped his shirt open and found the wound in his side. I pressed the towel over it and released it immediately when he groaned in pain.

  “No. Put…it b-back.”

  I did as he said and held it in place, watching his face as he struggled to breathe. In the distance I heard sirens and hoped to God they were coming to help us and that it wasn’t too late. I never saw Hunter, so I had no idea if he was okay or lying dead outside somewhere. Lola was passed out in the chair and Derek was still passed out in the corner. There was nothing I could do for either of them. Cole was my number one priority right now. He had risked his life multiple times for me and I wouldn’t let the man I love die.

  I heard the car doors open and police announcing themselves outside.

  “Help! We’re in here and we need help! Please help us!” I was crying now and I hoped they had understood what I said. They came through the door in what appeared to be slow motion. They were asking me questions, but I couldn’t hear a thing. All the background noise had faded and I was left with that annoying, sharp sound in my ears. A paramedic rushed to my side and was telling me something. When I didn’t do what she wanted, she lifted my hands and examined Cole’s side. I glanced back down at Cole and realized that he had passed out. At least, I hoped he’d passed out. I glanced around the room and saw paramedics working on Derek and Lola. Jeffrey was lying on the floor with the knife still in his hand. I started to stand, but the ground shifted below my feet and I saw the whole room spin out of control. I couldn’t figure out what was going on and the piercing sound in my head was too much for me. I closed my eyes and prayed that when I woke up, I would be in bed with Cole and everything would be okay.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Cole

  “Any word yet on when he’s gonna wake up?”

  “They said he should wake up at any time. We just have to give the drugs time to wear off.”

  “How’s Alex? I haven’t been able to get in to see her.”

  “She hasn’t woken up yet either.”

  “Damn. I should have seen this coming.”

  Alex hadn’t woken up yet? What happened? I tried to work it out in my mind, but the haze was growing thicker and I couldn’t focus on what was be
ing said. The voices continued, but they started to fade as I was pulled back under. I don’t know how long I was out for, but the next time I was roused there were no voices. I strained to hear anything, but there was nothing but the beeping that was sounding nearby. I cracked my eyes, but it was too bright in the room so I kept my them shut. I took stock of my body and found that I only had a slight pain in my right side. My mouth was extremely dry and I really wanted a glass of water. I heard a door open and I tried once again to open my eyes. This time, I was able to leave them open a sliver. My mom and dad entered what I could now see was a hospital room. That explained the beeping.

  “Oh, my Lord. He’s awake. Call the nurse,” Mom said frantically.

  “Mom…” I tried to speak, but the huge cotton ball in my mouth wouldn’t allow it. She walked over to the table and grabbed a glass of water and a straw.

  “Here. Take a small sip of this.” She placed the straw to my mouth and I drank down a huge gulp. I felt like I had walked through the desert for ten days without water. She pulled the cup from me.