Tag: romantic suspense

The car exploded sending Lacey and Connor up in the air.

Lacey didn’t remember landing.

She didn’t remember the pain.

Or the men.

The ropes or being throw in the trunk of a car.

She didn’t remember anything.

There was only darkness.

She knew a lot about darkness.

Every second she had spent with TJ had been dark. The second his mask had fallen and his true self had been revealed he had plunged her into the black portal of pure evil.

Slowly something came into the darkness that had soaked inside her.

Pain.

She was in pain.

Everywhere.

Her whole body ached. Her leg from the bullet, her whole left side from the explosion, and her shoulders because …

Wondering why was enough to prod her fully awake and she opened her eyes to find that she was in a house. A nondescript house that could be anywhere. She was-thankfully-still dressed but her wrists had been tied behind her back and then pulled up at an awkward angle and secured to a hook on the wall. Already her shoulders and arms burned with pain and she knew enough to know that TJ wouldn’t have mercy on her.

So she was TJ’s again.

All these months where she had been rebuilding her life, hoping he wouldn’t find her, were all for nothing. She wished she had been shot back at the ballet audition, at least that would have been quick, because whatever TJ had planned wouldn’t be.

That time Connor had saved her but now …

Wait.

Connor. Where was he?

Lacey scanned the room and found him tied to a chair about three years to her right. His eyes met hers and although he was gagged she could clearly read what he was telling her. To hold on, to stay strong, to believe that they would somehow get out of this.

She might have believed him but the door to the room suddenly opened and her worst nightmare stepped through it.

TJ.

She couldn’t do this, she couldn’t survive him again.

He smiled that wicked smile at her as he walked over, towering above her. “There’s no escaping, Lace, you’re mind,” he told her as he brushed his knuckles across her cheek. “Forever.”

Forever.

With a grim sigh, Lacey accepted her fate, her one regret was that she had dragged Connor into this, and now her fate was going to become his as well.

Lacey’s weight on his back and the way her arms wrapped around his neck in a vicelike grip made scaling the apartment wall almost impossible, but the fear of TJ getting his hands on her again were enough to spur him on.

He didn’t know how he did it but somehow he reached the ground.

In one piece.

It was a miracle and he prayed that their luck held and they were able to get back to the station. Once they got there he could make sure that Lacey was safe while they figured out where her ex was hiding out and go and arrest him.

“Lace?” he said, trying to keep his voice gentle because he knew what a horrific day she’d had. She was still clinging to him like they were five storeys up, and the back of his neck waste with her tears. “We’re on the ground.”

She didn’t say anything, just held on to him and shook so hard her teeth were chattering.

“You scaled down the wall like Spider-man, Connor,” he joked, his tone light, hoping that maybe brightening the mood a little might help.

“You’re amazing,” came her shaky reply. “I’m okay, you can put me down now.”

Instead of putting her down, he pulled her around and rearranged her in his arms. “You really should be keeping off your leg.”

Connor expected her to argue but instead she asked, “So, what next?”

“Next we get you someplace safe, then we figure things out.”

“Do you think you can find TJ before he kills anyone else?” she asked, her blue eyes shone in the stormy light and rain dripped down her face, mixing with the last of her tears. All he wanted to do was kiss her and take away her pain, make her feel safe, but now wasn’t the time or the place.

“Yes,” he answered confidently because she needed reassurance right now. “But first how about we get out of this rain?”

“Sounds good,” she said, offering up a weak smile.

Smiling back, he started walking. “My car was parked around the corner because I didn’t intend to stay at my apartment for long, hopefully we’re in it and on our way to the station before they realise we’re no longer in the apartment.”

“And if we’re not?”

He didn’t want to think about that right now. He just wanted to focus on getting Lacey to the station. She’d been shot and she was supposed to still be in the hospital, he would get her checked out and make sure that she was taken care of so he could focus on keeping her safe.

“Here we go,” he said when they managed to reach his car without incident. Because it was raining, and he had Lacey in his arms, he yanked his keys from his pocket as he approached and pressed the unlock button.

The second he did the world around him exploded.

It began to storm.

Connor thought the howling wind, pouring rain, rolling thunder and flashes of lightening were appropriate for the story Lacey was about to tell him.

She held his hand and clung to it, so instead of sitting on the coffee table facing her as he had intended he sat beside her. “Tell me about him, Lacey, what’s his name?” Maybe he would get more out of her if he asked her questions, let her tell him one thing at a time.

“TJ,” she whispered, her hand tightening around his until it hurt.

“How did you meet him?”

“I’m a dancer, a ballerina, I moved to the city as soon as I graduated high school. Callie and I moved together, we shared an apartment, worked nights as as waitresses to pay the bills and went to auditions during the day. We met TJ at the restaurant, he took a liking to me. He was a lawyer, he was wealthy and good looking and charming, and I fell for it,” she said, tears brimming in her beautiful blue eyes.

“How much older than you was he?” Connor asked, knowing that there was probably at least a ten year age gap, the man had taken advantage of the fact that Lacey was young and innocent.

“I was nineteen when I met him, he was twenty-nine. When he proposed he said he wanted to take care of me so I could pursue my dreams, but once we were married he changed. He expected me to wait on him hand and foot, to cook and clean, and be available whenever he wanted me for …” she trailed off and her cheeks turned bright red.

“He hit you?” Connor asked, forcing his voice to remain even despite the anger bubbling inside him.

Lacey nodded.

“How long were you married?”

“Nearly four years,” she replied.

“How did you get out?” he asked, but before she could answer he saw shadows moving at the bottom of his door.

Someone was out there.

“Lacey, shh,” he whispered, his hand moving for his gun. He stood and walked to the window, carefully pulling back the curtain so he could see out. The street below was mostly empty but he saw a woman standing at the bottom of the apartment building steps.

She looked familiar.

Connor tried to place her, then all of a sudden it clicked. She was the woman who he had thought was Lacey when he first arrived home.

“You were followed,” he said, letting the curtain fall closed.

“Followed?” Lacey echoed, her eyes going wide with fear.

“A woman, and now they’re outside the apartment.”

“How are we going to get out of here?” she asked, voice squeaky with barely suppressed terror.

That was a very good question.