Author: Jane Blythe

“Can you make it inside or do you need help?” Tyler asked as he crouched beside the open car door.

Macey was used to being stubborn but she was exhausted, a kind of bone deep exhaustion that came from four months of living in constant fear, so she nodded tiredly and wrapped her arms around Tyler’s neck when he picked her up.

He carried her inside his house and set her down on the couch in the living room. It had been a long time since she’d last been here, when they had broken up she’d let him keep the house they’d shared needing to just get away from him because being near him but not being together was too hard.

But now …

“Tyler.” She grabbed his hand when he went to stand. Now probably wasn’t the time for this conversation but she had to know. “About us, are we …?”

“Together again?” he asked, looking down at her with a serious expression on his face. “That’s up to you, sweetheart. I want you back, but you’ve just been through something horrific and if you need time before you want to this about that then I understand.”

All the time in the world wouldn’t help her process what had happened to her, and none of it changed the fact that she loved Tyler. “I want you. I want us to be together again. I don’t ever want to lose you.”

Smiling, he perched on the edge of the couch, taking her face between his hands his thumbs caressed her cheeks and then he leaned in a feathered his lips across hers. Macey curled her fingers into his shirt and held onto him, needing this kiss, needing him, to erase some of the horrors of the last few months.

“Sorry to interrupt, but its time to set the trap.”

They both froze at Ryder’s words and looked up to see Tyler’s partner standing in the doorway.

It was time.

Time to put on hold rekindling her and Tyler’s relationship.

Time to end this.

Time to play bait to trap Michael Cummings.

“I think I know who it is,” Macey whispered. Her eyes were wide with fear, her slim body trembling, she looked as though the past was rushing at her, smashing her strength, as she fragmented into a million pieces.

That wasn’t happening on his watch.

She had survived four months as a prisoner, she could survive anything, and he would be right there beside her every step of the way.

“Who is he?” Tyler asked, taking her hands in his and brushing his thumbs across her palms, hoping to soothe her.

“There was this guy at my high school, the kids used to bully him, one day he went up on the roof, he was going to jump and the other kids were egging him on, telling him to jump that no one would miss him. I told him it wasn’t true, that there were people who cared about him and loved him and that the world wouldn’t be a better place without him in it. He didn’t jump but he never came back to school, I never saw him again, but do you think …?” she trailed off looking to him to see if what she’d said could be possible.

“Its a good a place to start looking as any other,” he told her. If this man thought that Macey had saved his life, that she cared about him and loved him, then no telling what he might do. “What was his name?”

“Michael, Michael Cummings. He’s really still out there isn’t he? And he’s going to come back. He’ll never let me go.” The look on her face as she said that, like she was already a dead woman walking, broke his heart.

“I swear on my life, Mace, he wont ever lay a hand on you again. I will protect you with my life if I have to,” Tyler vowed. Nothing and no one was going to take her away from him ever again. He’d rather die and no that she was safe than have her endure another heartbeat of pain and suffering.

The door opened.

Her kidnapper walked into her hospital room, determined to take back what was his.

Macey screamed.

She wasn’t going back.

She’d rather be dead.

Just as he reached for her Tyler burst into the room, shooting the man dead.

The bang of the gunshot startled her and Macey bolted upright, struggling to catch her breath as the remnants of the dream slowly faded, someone stepped towards the bed.

Tyler.

He’d promised her he wouldn’t leave her and he hadn’t. He’d ridden in the ambulance with her, he’d stayed by her bed in the ER while she was examined and treated, and he’d been sitting in a chair in her room when she had drifted off to sleep.

Reaching for him was automatic but it also felt right. The reasons for their break up suddenly seemed so unimportant. He’d wanted kids, she hadn’t been ready as she was still building her career, and before either of them knew what had happened they were arguing about it every time they were together.

Now none of that mattered.

She’d never stopped loving him, never could stop loving him, and all she wanted was to spend the rest of her life with him.

Tyler’s hand clasped hers and then she was wrapped in his arms. He was rocking her side to side and crooning in her ear, and slowly her thumping heart began to slow.

“I love you, Tyler,” Macey said, she needed him to know that. If they’d stayed together then she never would have gone on that blind date and she never would have been kidnapped. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry for everything that happened between us.”

“Not your fault, baby.” Tyler moved so he was sitting on the bed beside he and carefully pulled her onto his lap, mindful of the tubes and wires connected to her body. “I should have listened to you, waited until you were ready. I’m sorry, Macey.”

“If I had of tried to compromise then this never would have happened.” She buried her face against his chest as her tears began to flow again.

“No, baby, that’s not true. Honey,” he said gently and grasped her shoulders easing her back then touching his fingertip to her cheek to catch her tears. “There were photos of you all over his house, thousands of them, he was obsessed with you, he would have come after you at some point regardless of if we’d broken up or not. Macey, the photos went all the way back to when you started high school, is there anyone you can think of from that time in your life who might have done this?”

A no was on the tip of her tongue but then a snippet of a memory resurfaced.

Her eyes grew wide and she gasped.

It couldn’t be, and yet it seemed like it was.

“I think I know who it is,” she said with a shaky voice.

Tyler looked down at the woman he loved with anguish on his face as she broke apart in his arms. Macey was strong, stronger than anyone he’d ever met, but being locked in a cage for four months would cause even the toughest person to crack.

He held her, rocking her from side to side, crooning useless platitudes in her ear not because he thought it would help but because he wanted her to hear his voice, to know that she wasn’t alone anymore.

Her tears soaked his shirt but slowly she started to calm until she was just lying huddled in his lap. As much as he could stay this way forever, just holding her in his arms, he wanted to get her out of this room.

“Are you hurt anywhere, sweetheart?” he asked.

She didn’t answer and from the limp way she rested against him Tyler knew she was in shock. Easing her back he laid her down on the floor and ran his hands over her body. She winced a couple of times and he could see bruises marring her bare arms and had to stamp down his rage. Rage wasn’t what Macey needed right now, what she needed was support and comfort.

“Lets get you out of here, sweetheart,” he said as he scooped her into his arms and stood. Tyler carried her through the house and out into the sunshine. Macey winced as the crisp, fresh air touched her skin and began to tremble in his arms and he silently cursed the man who had done this to her.

With Ryder beside him keeping a watchful eye on their surroundings in case Macey’s abductor was hovering somewhere nearby, Tyler sat in the back seat of his car, Macey on his lap.

Ryder handed him a blanket and he tucked it around her then took her face between his hands. Her eyes were blank and seemed to stare through him rather than at him. As much as he wanted to wrap her in cotton wool and protect her, her abductor was still out there.

“Sweetheart, do you know his name?”

She gave a slight shake of her head. Her gaze finally met his and her eyes filled with tears again.

Her tears splintered through his heart, breaking it wide open.

How had he ever let this beautiful woman slip through his fingers?

Desperate to take away her pain, and ease his own, Tyler leaned down and brushed his lips across hers. The kiss was meant to be brief, a way to convey his love for her, but Macey pulled her hands out from under the blanket and wrapped her arms around his neck, drawing the kiss out.

It didn’t solve any of their problems but it reminded him his Macey was still in there and he hadn’t completely lost her.

They still stood a chance.

His heart healed just a little.

Was this real?

How many times had Macey dreamed of someone coming to rescue her since she had been abducted?

Hundreds.

Almost every time exhaustion took hold and her eyes closed she would dream of the day she would get out of here. Her dreams would feel so real making them their own nightmares because she kept having to wake up back in her little prison.

Nightmares when she was awake and nightmares when she was asleep, her entire life had devolved into one giant nightmare.

But this felt different.

It felt real.

Macey didn’t think she was asleep.

The body holding her was warm, the arms wrapped around her were strong, the gentle rocking motion soothing.

“He got away.”

The words jarred her from her shock induced stupor, and she lifted her head. The face that looked down at her was the one she had longed to see for so long and she worried again that this was nothing but another taunting dream.

“Tyler?” she asked, lifting a hand to tentatively touch his face.

His hand lifted to cup her cheek, his thumb stroking softly across her cold skin. “I’m here, baby. I’m here, you’re okay now, I’ve got you. I’m so sorry, Macey. I’m sorry about everything. I love you, sweetheart, I never stopped loving you.”

He loved her.

Tyler still loved her.

For months she had hoped and prayed that it was true, that maybe they could fix what they’d broken, but now hearing him say the words broke her heart.

He loved her but she was broken now. Not the same woman she had been before. Now she was just an empty shell hollowed out by months of abuse. What did she have to offer him in return for his love.

Nothing.

She had nothing.

The well of tears that she had boarded up when she’d realised she was trapped here suddenly broke free and she began to sob.