by A. K. Evans
“Connor, please,” I begged. “Please just remove these restraints, and we can go somewhere to talk about this.”
I hated the fact that I sounded scared, but I couldn’t hide it either. There was a menacing edge to his voice. The tone of it slid through me in an uncomfortable way that sent chills down my spine.
I didn’t actually think he would have listened to me, but I knew I couldn’t just sit and wait for him to do whatever he planned to do to me.
Sadly, I didn’t have to wait much longer for him to show me what that was. Because without another word, he stood and moved toward the wall. That’s when I noticed the hoses that ran from the spouts at the wall to the pool.
Connor turned the water on.
Suddenly, I couldn’t breathe. I was going to drown. The thought terrified me.
“Connor,” I yelled out. “Why are you doing this?”
He walked away from the wall and moved closer to the edge of the pool. “Because you had to be selfish,” he accused me. “You couldn’t just be happy that you were being handed everything on a silver platter. No. Lennox Ford had to prove she could go after what she really wanted in life. And in the process, she didn’t care who else was affected by it.”
“I had no idea my father would ever think of putting anyone else in that position,” I insisted. “You were the smart and obvious choice. I never meant to do anything that would have hurt you, Connor. I swear that to you.”
“Your word means nothing,” he countered. “Why, Leni? Why couldn’t you just be happy with all they were giving you? Don’t you know how successful we could have been together? Don’t you realize how much money we could have made?”
“Of course, I do. But money isn’t everything,” I claimed.
“Yes it is,” he shot back. “Do you think I’d be here right now risking everything if it weren’t about the money?”
As the water level slowly began to rise, I knew I had to try a different approach. I had to get him to calm down.
“Yes, Connor, I do. Because right now you’re doing exactly what I did. Maybe you’re going about it in a completely different way, which I might add is not going to be good for you in the long run, but you still have the same thing driving you that I did.”
He jerked back at my words as his face was awash with confusion.
“Passion,” I stated. “You have a drive to be a successful man. Yeah, the money is great, but you know it’s not everything. Because my father just gave you a raise when you expressed your desire to grow within the company. If this were about money, getting that raise would have been enough. So, you know, Connor, that this is about something so much deeper than that. This is about you wanting to use the skills and talents you have to become someone. You want your hard work recognized.”
I thought I was getting somewhere because the anger was gone from his face. But it only lasted a few fleeting seconds. Apparently, trying to praise him wasn’t going to work either.
I decided to try a different tactic. “But you’re a coward,” I declared.
“Fuck you!” he exploded.
“What? Did I strike a nerve?” I asked. I honestly believed I had nothing left to lose at this point. I mean, if I was going to die, I was going to make sure Connor knew exactly what I thought of him now.
“Fuck you, Leni!”
“No, Connor. Fuck you! You’re a coward,” I spat. “You didn’t get what you wanted, so you this is how you handle it? Instead of being lazy and feeling bad for yourself about the position you’re in, maybe you should have gone after what you wanted. If it wasn’t going to happen at Ford, it could have happened somewhere else. The problem is, you don’t believe in yourself. You gave up. Maybe I won’t make it out of here alive, but you know what? At least I can die knowing that I didn’t take the easy way out. I didn’t surrender. I knew what I wanted in life, and I went after it. And you know what? I got it. All you’ll be from now on is a coward. And a murderer.”
Connor clearly didn’t like hearing what I had to say. He gave me one last smirk and admitted, “Maybe you’re right. But while I’m that, you’ll be dead.”
With that, he turned and walked out, leaving me in a pool with water at my throat and steadily rising.
I sat there staring at the door he walked through for about ten seconds before I started to panic. I struggled and pulled against the restraints, feeling them tear into my skin.
“Help!!!” I screamed. “Help me!!”
I knew it was late and nobody was out there, but it made me feel better to scream. Because at the rate the pool was filling, I knew I didn’t have much time left. I wanted to use my lungs for as long as I could. So, I took deep breaths and continued to scream.
And even though I didn’t know how much time had passed, I knew it hadn’t been very long when the water came up and I took in my final deep breath.
Fifteen minutes earlier
There were no words to describe just how useless I felt. I had no idea where Leni was or if she was okay. I knew that I could have driven all over town looking for her, but I’d be wasting time if I didn’t at least have a good idea of where she might be.
It felt like so much time had passed since Tanya showed up telling me that Leni had been kidnapped. And all I could do was try to stay focused on figuring out where Connor would have taken her. If I couldn’t keep it together, I knew my chances of finding Leni were going to diminish. So, I did my best to keep my emotions out of it and treat it just like any other case.
But deep down, I knew that wasn’t what was happening.
Just then, movement in my office caused me to look up from my computer.
“I’m going to check out the parents’ place and their business,” Gunner announced as he walked into my office. “Tanya gave me a description of the vehicle Leni was taken in. I checked the outside surveillance and confirmed everything went down just as Tanya said. Tyson mentioned that you’re concerned her parents might be involved. He’s still digging. I’m going to see if I can locate that vehicle.”
I was about to respond to Gunner and let him know that I’d reach out as soon as we heard anything, but before I could, my phone rang. Looking down at the display, I saw Reece’s name.
“Reece,” I answered after the first ring.
“Are you at your office?” he asked, but he was clearly out of breath.
My body tensed as I stood. “Yeah, why?”
“Then you’re closer to her than I am,” he explained. “She’s at the gym. He took her back to the gym.”
I grabbed my keys and started moving as I relayed the information to Gunner. He told Tyson as I continued to run to the front door. Tyson was beside me in a flash. “You’re with me,” he ordered.
As soon as we got inside Tyson’s truck, I asked, “How sure are you? How do you know?”
Reece explained, “After you called, I got on the computer here at Sophie’s place and checked the surveillance footage. I went back through and looked at it from the time she arrived at the gym just before her class began. After I’d gone through all of it and realized there wasn’t much I’d be able to give you, I closed the screen with the recorded footage. That’s when I saw the live stream.”
“Is she okay?” I asked.
I waited for Reece to respond, but one never came.
“Reece!” I shouted.
“She’s in the pool, Holden,” he sighed. “And she’s anchored to something. I can’t tell what because the water is so high. I don’t fucking know how he filled it so fast, but he did. And she’s nearly out of time.”
Damn it.
“What is he doing?” I asked.
“There’s nobody else there with her now,” Reece returned. “I can go back and check the footage later, but I figured it was best to get there before it was too late for her.”
“I’ve got to go.”
“I’m ten minutes behind you,” he returned. “I’ll call the police and get an ambulance on the way.”
After I disconnec
ted the call with my brother, I sat there staring out the window. I could have yelled at Tyson to drive faster, but he was already breaking the law by driving at a speed that was well above the speed limit. There was no way he’d be able to get us there any quicker than he was already trying to.
She’s nearly out of time.
Leni.
My girl.
Alone.
And nearly out of time.
“Holden, brother, talk to me,” Tyson urged.
I shook my head back and forth as I remarked, “She’s going to drown. He put her in the pool and she’s going to drown.”
In the next instant, I heard the engine RPMs increase as Tyson pressed the gas pedal, and with a voice full of determination, he promised, “No she’s not. We’re going to get her.”
Panic and dread filled me. There was no way this could happen. She couldn’t die not knowing that I loved her. And the thought that she might gripped me with such a crippling fear.
Minutes later, Tyson pulled up right in front of Reece’s gym. He didn’t even have the chance to throw the truck in park when I was already out and heading for the door. I used my key, opened it up, and raced through the gym with Tyson on my heels. We made it to door at the back of the gym that led to the newly renovated addition. Opening that door, we quickly moved through the space to get to the door that led into the pool area. I flung it wide open and went in to rescue mode the minute I saw where she was.
Tyson and I raced along the side of the pool to the opposite end where she was completely submerged in the water. We both jumped in, and I immediately went under to see how we could free her. Seeing her for the first time in weeks like this, her lifeless body attached to a chair, caused something stir inside me. It threatened to take over, but I knew I couldn’t lose it now.
Seeing how she was restrained, I resurfaced and yelled to Tyson, “Zip ties. We’ve got to cut her free.”
I didn’t wait for Tyson to respond because I knew he’d have, just like I did, a knife in his pocket. And I had every confidence that he’d do exactly what I’d ordered him to do so we could get Leni free and out of the water.
As soon as I went back under the water again, I worked on freeing her left wrist and ankle. And even though I wasn’t paying attention to Tyson, I knew he was doing the same exact thing on her right. The minute I had my side free, I glanced over and saw Tyson indicating she was free on his side. We immediately stood and lifted her.
I held on to Leni, keeping her head above the water while Tyson heaved his body out. The second he was out, he turned and took Leni from my arms. While I lifted myself out of the pool, Tyson laid her down on her back and listened for her breathing and checked for a pulse.
“She’s got nothing,” he said.
I didn’t waste any time. I unzipped the hoodie she was wearing, belatedly realizing it was the one I’d put on her the day of the fire at her studio, and immediately began performing CPR.
It felt like time was slowly ticking by as I did chest compressions and breathed air back into her body.
“Come on, sweetheart,” I begged, continuing to pump.
I no longer even sounded like myself. The fear I felt, evidenced by the growing pit in my stomach and the boulder lodged in my throat, was beginning to take over. There was no more controlling it.
Moving my hands from her chest, I pinched her nose with my thumb and forefinger and gave her two breaths. I listened. Nothing.
“Come on, Leni. Breathe!”
Tyson took over the next round of chest compressions. I tried to breathe life back into her body again.
Nothing.
By the time Tyson reached the halfway point of the third round of compressions, we heard a cough and a gurgle.
“Roll her, roll her,” I directed Tyson. As we shifted her to her side, I encouraged her, “That’s it, Leni. Get it out, and come back to me, sweetheart.”
The relief I felt was so immense. Never have I ever felt so scared in my entire life and hearing her fight to breathe was simply overwhelming.
I continued to hold her head in my hands as she vomited up the water she’d ingested. Tyson kept his hands on her body, making sure she didn’t roll to her back again.
That’s when the door into the room swung open. My back was to it, but Tyson announced, “It’s Reece.”
“Is she out? Is she okay?” Reece yelled, running over to us.
Tyson answered Reece as I lowered my head and looked at Leni. “You’re okay, sweetheart,” I whispered. “I’ve got you. You’re going to be okay.”
Leni was struggling, but she was breathing on her own. I never thought I’d be so relieved to see her in such a state.
While anyone who looked at me might think that my face was wet from being in the pool, it really was just a cover for the fact that I couldn’t stop tears from leaking from my eyes. In a matter of moments, the awful choice I made to let this woman slip through my fingers and walk out of her life hit me full force.
She could have died. A second time.
If that wasn’t enough to show me that life was short and precious, nothing would be. As I looked into her eyes, all I knew was that this whole thing reaffirmed the choice I made when I was sitting in my office before Tanya showed up.
Leni was meant to be in my life. She was the one for me. And the minute she got through this mess, with me by her side, I had every intention of making things right between us again.
My eyes fluttered open.
When I took in the scene around me, it all came back.
I nearly died because Connor tried to drown me. I couldn’t even begin to think about where he was or if anyone knew he was the reason I had been so close to death. All I cared about was that I was lucky enough for the second time in my life to survive something that many people might not have lived through.
I had been held overnight for observation.
And while I had been mostly confined to the bed for the last several hours, I wasn’t restrained to it. My wrists and ankles were bandaged up from where the restraints had dug into my skin as I struggled against them. I was finding that my breathing was getting better. When I first arrived at the hospital, I was having quite a bit of trouble taking in full, deep breaths. But as they administered the oxygen, it started to improve.
I glanced at the side of my bed and saw the back of Holden’s head. He’d spent the night with me, refusing to leave my side, even after the hospital personnel told him he couldn’t stay.
Chaos had been swirling around me from the minute the paramedics arrived at Reece’s gym. I still had no idea how Holden knew that I was even kidnapped, let alone where to find me.
Now, for the first time since being rescued, I was able to take advantage of the silence and think about the things that had been lingering at the back of my mind.
Mostly, that meant Holden.
I tried to talk to him last night, but he insisted that I get some rest, assuring me he wasn’t going to go anywhere.
But it was morning, and I had rested all I was going to rest knowing that Holden was sitting right here.
I knew where things stood between us, but I still felt compelled to touch him. So, I lifted my hand and cupped the back of his head.
Almost instantly, Holden stirred and lifted his gaze to mine. There was something in his eyes that I hadn’t seen before from him. I immediately pulled my hand back and gave him a worried look.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
I gave him a slight nod but didn’t say anything.
For several long seconds, neither of us said anything. We continued to stare at one another. And while I had no idea what was going through his head, I was feeling so consumed by the fact that it was the first time I was seeing him in weeks. Or, at least, the first time I was seeing him where I could actually breathe and talk.
I eventually broke the silence and said softly, “Thank you for rescuing me last night.”
Devastation washed over him. “Leni, sweetheart, you never
should have been in that position. You don’t need to thank me. I should be apologizing to you.”
“For what?”
He held my gaze quietly before he replied, “For not admitting how I truly felt about you weeks ago. I’m so sorry.”
“How you truly felt?” I repeated.
His voice was so gentle when he spoke. “I love you. I love you so much, and you almost died before I had the chance to tell you.”
My eyes widened. “What?”
“You were right,” he admitted. “I was too afraid to surrender to my feelings because I was worried about getting hurt. But for weeks, I endured pain so severe without you in my life, I finally got to the point I couldn’t stand it anymore. And the moment I realized it, the day I decide I’m going to go and make things right with you, I find out you were kidnapped.”
He paused a moment, looking down and shaking his head in disgust.
“I’ll never forgive myself for what happened to you,” he rasped. “Seeing you like that yesterday… terrified that you wouldn’t survive. God, Leni, I’m so sorry for what I did to us. I sorry for what I did to you.”
I took his hand in mine. “Holden, what happened yesterday isn’t your fault,” I insisted. “I can appreciate where you’re coming from, but you’re not to blame for what Connor did.”
“If I hadn’t walked away from you, I probably would have been there at the gym with you last night. You wouldn’t have been alone, and he wouldn’t have had that chance to grab you.”
It was so like Holden to take it all on his shoulders. I hated that for him, and I knew if I didn’t find a way to get him to see otherwise, he’d never let it go. “If it hadn’t been last night, it would have been another night,” I began. “Connor was on a mission. And I have a feeling that if you had been there with me last night, he would have found another way to get to me.”
“You’re not going to erase the guilt I feel, Leni,” Holden stated. “It’s there, and a big part of me believes it’s what I deserve after treating you the way that I did. I never should have played with your emotions like that. I’m sorry, sweetheart. I hope you can forgive me.”
