Page 108 of Rough Fantasy

“Just now?”

“No. A month ago.”

He saw the recognition on Rory’s face. It was O’Connell all along.

“Maura,” Rory said and turned and ran out of the room. Zeke followed.

“Call her. I need to call my mother and stepda.”

Jennifer stepped out of her office. “Call Conner, tell him “O’Connell”. Then you lock this place the fuck down.”

He got a hold of his mother and was assured everything was fine by the time they were heading toward his car.

“Okay, ma. I’ve got some other calls to make.”

Rory started up the car with a grim expression. “Maura’s not answering her phone.”

“Dammit, you drive, I’ll call.”

Her phone rang and rang. No answer.

“She’s ignoring us. Hopefully.”

“Hopefully?”

“Yes. The alternative is she is separated from her phone. That never happens.”

If it did, they both knew it meant trouble.

Rory sped through a red light. There were a lot of honking horns but both of them ignored that. All that mattered was getting to Maura and making sure she was okay.

Maura’s head was pounding by the time she got home. She was so damned tired she might force herself to take the stupid pills the doctor gave her for pain. But that seemed so weak.

She didn’t seem to give a damn.

The men in her life were treating her as if she were going insane.

It was too bad she couldn’t just curl up in a ball and sleep for three weeks. She knew the signs of depression. Dr. Obenhaus had helped her through all of that before, but one thing the doctor had taught her was sometimes…just sometimes…you needed to escape from the world you were in.

Life wasn’t supposed to hurt this much, was it?

She sighed. Sitting in her hot car feeling sorry for herself wasn’t going to make anything better. After grabbing her briefcase, she slipped out of her car and shut the door. After reaching the front door, she punched in her security code, but when she stepped into the foyer, she knew something was wrong immediately. She stepped back, but stopped when she saw a man step from around the corner in her house.

It was the bastard who had attacked her in Hawaii.

“So nice to see you again, Ms. Dillon.”

Before she could react, he rushed forward. She turned but it was too late. She felt the shock to her left shoulder and it jolted through her body. Then, she fell, hitting her head on the pavement. Pain exploded and then her world went to black.

forty-six

Fear turned into terror when Rory pulled into the driveway and Zeke saw the front door was left open. He was out of the car and running even before Rory put it in park.

“Shit,” he said. “Maura! Maura!”

No answer. Fucking hell.

“She’s not here?” Rory asked.