Page 42 of Come Back to Me
I hear her call my name and see her being pulled into the town car. I’m running, yelling her name, and reaching for my phone all at once. I keep up halfway down the street in a sprint, but once he picks up speed I lose them quickly. Grabbing the phone from my pocket I dial Foster, panting and half-screaming. “Mia’s been taken! They just took her, Foster, from right under my fucking nose. She’s in our own car, damn it! Track it. Carter must have an accomplice who somehow passed our screening. We are going to have a chat about this, but not now. Find her, Foster. Bring her back to me. I’m counting on you.”
“On it, but boss, Carter was bailed out by his cousin… The guy goes by the name John Williams.”
“WHAT THE FUCK?!” I roar, “I thought my people made careful arrangements to shut down any chance of bail. This can’t be happening! I want to make this perfectly clear, Foster, and you can tell anyone who will listen. I will ruin lives if something happens to Mia. Do you understand? If I lose her again, if anything happens to her, all bets are off.”
“We are tracking the car right now, sir. Just hang on…”
“Great, I’m grabbing another car. Send me coordinates and I will meet you there. This is the end of this prick, do you understand me, Foster?”
The valet guys are staring at me, not sure what to do.
“Call the police. My wife has been kidnapped.” I snap at them. I skip panic and fear, going straight to murderous rage.I will not let him hurt her again. I promised her she’d be safe. I can’t let her down.I jump in the nearest VIP car kept up front by the valet, and take off. “Where am I going, Foster?”
“Head downtown, the car is slowing, hold on… he’s pulling into the Fairmont. Shit, boss, isn’t that where…?”
“Yes, that’s where this nightmare began… I’m on my way. Hurry, Foster. We have to get to her.”
This is all my fault. I didn’’t protect her. well enough. Just as she was trying to feel safe again, I failed her. Dammit! Can’t think about this now. I need to keep my head in the game if there is any chance to reach her before he hurts her.
“Team will be there momentarily, boss.”
“I told the valet to call the police, but we find him first, Foster. Get it? We find him first.”
“Done, sir.”
I throw my phone on the seat and whizz around the cars, my rage growing as I get closer. I throw the car door open as I pull up to the hotel, ignoring the valet yelling at me that I cannot leave my vehicle. Busting through the entrance, I see Foster and his team speaking urgently with hotel security.Goddammit, every minute they waste talking, she is closer to harm.I shoot past them, knowing exactly where I am going. This sick fuck has brought her back here so that means he is recreating his twisted fantasy, most likely in the same room. I got there just in time to stop it last time. I have to get there again now.
I run past the elevator banks and take the stairs three at a time. I can hear my heart pounding but I’m juiced on adrenalin. I call Foster, yelling, “Room 4301!” That’s all I get out before I reach the 4thfloor. As I sprint down the hall I can hear her screaming. I throw the weight of my body into the door with every shred of my force, breaking and falling through the door frame.
The light seeps into my eyes in flashes. I can feel my lids flutter and I wonder if I’m alive. I open my mouth and nothing comes out, I hear nothing.What in the hell?!I can only feel the burn. It feels like hot pokers inside my throat. I cover my mouth, hoping that will make it feel better, but it doesn’t help. I look around and realize I am on a bed, cuffed, and alone. I am immediately relieved that my clothes are on. I jerk my arms and feel the cut of the cuffs. I try pulling harder, thinking maybe my hand will just fucking break and I can slip it out that way, but no such luck. I’m trapped and lying here, waiting to die.
I look around the room for something, anything that might help me defend myself, when FLASHCarter is on top of me, breathing down on my neck, holding down my limbs.Oh my God, this isn’t happening.FLASHHe is ripping off my shirt while I desperately try to squirm away from him.I can’t take this, I don’t want to remember this.Carter is going to rape me and all I can see is that fucking ceiling… “Nooooooo!!!!!” I scream as tears roll down my face. I look up for help, only to recognizeThis ceiling is that ceiling. Are you fucking kidding me?!!
“Fuck you, Carter!!” I scream. “Fuck you!!!” And then, the door busts down.Holy shitis all I can think. I start pulling my arms, straining at the cuffs, and I feel them cut into my wrists. I’m flailing and twisting my body, trying to get free, barely coherent, and that’s when I see Cole stand up, looking at me. My mouth is moving but nothing comes out. My throat is on fire. Cole rushes over and examines my body as he reaches for his phone. I know he is worried that Carter has assaulted me, so I shake my head vehemently. Cole looks at me and touches my neck, and I wince. “I’m here baby, I’m here. Foster is bringing cutters to get those cuffs off of you.”
“Did you see where he went, sweetheart? It’s Carter, Mia. Some cousin of his made bail for him. I did everything I could to have it shut down, but my people weren’t fast enough and he got out. This is my fault, I’m so sorry.”
I shake my head no again and hug him tighter. A moment later, Foster and his crew come through what’s left of the door, accompanied by hotel security. “Boss… Carter?”
“Not here.”
They cut me out of the cuffs and my arms fall heavily, dead weight of being restrained. Cole pulls me to him and holds me up as my legs almost give out. Foster and his security team do a sweep of the room, and hotel security stands by while Cole helps me to my feet to leave for a hospital. Foster will stay to coordinate details and run interference. We are escorted by two others on Foster’s payroll and I notice they are both carrying as we get into the elevator.
We are walking out of the Fairmont when two things simultaneously happen. I lock eyes with Carter, and the police yell, “FREEZE!”
I feel every muscle in Cole’s body tense next to me. He turns his head to look at me and glances again at my neck. I’m shaking all over, at the onset of a full blown panic attack, and that’s when he lets go of my hand. In the next ten seconds I grab at Cole but he pushes my hands away and breaks directly for Carter. The police scream for Cole to stop, and Carter throws his arms in the air. I drop to my knees, screaming, but no sound comes out and the two bodyguards draw their weapons, making the police turn their weapons on the private security men behind me.
In the standoff between the police and our guards (who look toward Cole and exchange a nod), nobody but me has noticed that Cole has reached Carter and is choking the life out of him. The guards put their weapons down and hold up their arms, and I realize they were only buying him some time. Cole is hammering Carter’s head into the marble floor. I can see the whites of his knuckles, he is gripping so hard. I hurriedly point out where Carter is and smack the ground so the cops will pay attention. Finally, one of the officers yells out and they all rush to pull Cole off of Carter. The first officer tries to pull Cole off and gets a swift push to the ground, then Cole returns to pounding Carter’s face with his fists.
It takes a small brigade to pull Cole off, the whole while he’s yelling, “I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you if you ever touch her again! You are dead, Carter Williams! DEAD!” They pull Cole over to the side and lay him on his belly to cuff him. Carter is lying lifeless on the floor, but I hear an officer yell, “We’ve got a pulse.”
It’s bittersweet, I wish Carter was dead, but I cannot lose Cole that way. I love him for defending me but can’t imagine finally getting him back only to lose him again to prison! I see the officers putting cuffs on my husband and our private guards, panic setting in. Foster and the rest of the team start to speak with the officers. The situation is explained and I am deposited into an ambulance, accompanied by Foster, who assures me they will not be charging Cole but they will take him in for questioning. I’m grateful knowing that Foster is looking out for Cole because I am not up to it and we need an advocate right now. Foster has worked for Cole for years. He is more than an employee or even a friend. After these last few months, he has become family. I write on the dry erase board the EMT’s gave me, asking Foster to please call my mom. He tells me they are already on their way, being taken to the hospital to meet me.
“Mia, Cole has instructed me not to leave your side. I have strict orders to protect you by any means necessary. Do you understand? I am just sick over all of this. We were told Carter was in prison with no chance of bail, but somehow the signals got crossed. We never should have let our guard down. Just rest now, I’ve got you.”
I close my eyes and try to breathe, focusing on all the happy memories from earlier in the evening, as we ride to the hospital.
I am deposited into the back of a cruiser and watch Carter being put into an ambulance.I hope he dies. “Hey,” I yell to the officer in the front seat, “they aren’t going to the same hospital, are they? After what that monster did… he can’t be anywhere near her!”