Arms of Promise (12 page)

“Mom, please.”

“Shh.” Heather pulled Megan to her side and studied Anna with dilated eyes. “What’s in it for you?”

What?
“Nothing.” Her cell vibrated again.

Heather’s gaze wandered to a dark stain on the soiled carpet. “Fine,” she said after a moment.

A sigh of relief leveled out Anna’s shoulders. “Thank you.”

Something she couldn’t read moved through Heather’s expression. She turned without acknowledging Anna, but it didn’t matter. She’d said yes.

Anna winked to Megan and let herself out the door.

It killed her to leave that precious girl each night. And the truth was, Megan may never have the security of a safe, affectionate upbringing. But if Anna could offer her even snippets of the kind of childhood she deserved, she’d never stop trying.

Outside, a stormy wind shook the railing and marched up her body. She overlapped the sides of her coat while hustling down the rusted staircase to the walkway.

A garbage can lid rattled behind her and sent her reaching for her phone to text Harris.

Two missed calls. One from Dad, one from Reese. Just what she needed. A Thanksgiving tag team.

Something rustled in the leaves. Anna spun around right as a bony calico scurried out of the bushes. A long exhale slowed her pulse. She flexed a hand to the wall and clutched her phone to her chest. She seriously had to stop walking around so on edge.

Cautious eyes glowed back at her from under the shrubs.

“It’s okay, kitty. You hungry? I bet you’re freezing, too, huh?” Poor thing. The thought of it digging in the trash for food broke Anna’s heart. “Let’s see if we can get you somewhere warm.”

As soon as she inched forward, the stray scampered back into the darkness. Evan’s comment about Strider roared to mind and steered Anna’s gaze up the stairs to Megan’s apartment. Maybe she couldn’t change the way things were, but she couldn’t just stand on the sidelines. He, of all people, should understand that.

Burying the frustration, she turned and froze at the sight of someone lurking in front of her. Gray hoodie. Wild smirk. The guy who’d been in Megan’s apartment the other night grabbed a fistful of her coat. Her cell clattered to the ground.

“Look who decided to show up again.”

Anna darted a desperate glance from corner to corner until a dark laugh brought her eyes back to his smoke-stained leer.

“Don’t you worry. It’s just you and me.” He snaked a cold finger down the side of her face. “And we’re going to have some fun.”

She slapped his hand away. “Don’t touch me.”

“I had a feeling you’d be a feisty one.” He rammed her against the brick wall, knocking the air out of her. While her head spun, he tied some kind of twine around her wrists and clucked his tongue. “We could’ve played nice.”

Her stomach convulsed at the look on his face. She elbowed his chest in a fight to break free.

He clutched her jaw so fiercely, the corner of his ring tore into her lip. Pain surged. She spit in his face, splattering blood across his cheek.

His eyes darkened at her resistance.

Shaky heartbeats thundered against her eardrums. Her lungs heaved, but her struggle only fueled his high. With immense effort, she calmed her body. Two could play this game.

“That’s it, baby. Just relax.”

The second he loosened his hold on her shoulders, she thrust a knee into his groin as hard as she could. He folded in half, and she slammed his head against her other knee. On the ground, nose bleeding, he curled into a ball.

She stood above him. “Should’ve tied my legs, creep.”

Car doors opened behind her and drew her around. A pair of guys in dark clothes stepped out. Adrenaline rocketed her across the property and between two brick walls.

“Find her,” the guy on the ground yelled.

Anna edged to the end of the building and poked her head around the corner. The dark alleyway showed no signs of movement. She swung a glance from the building ahead to the path behind her.

Footsteps approached.
Breathe
. Praying no one was waiting in the open, she darted across the road and disappeared between another set of buildings.

Around the corner, she backed into the bricks. Her heart echoed the heavy footfalls still in pursuit. She strained to break her hands free, but the twine dug against her skin without any give.
Come on!

Dark clouds taunted rain, panic threatening tears. The bitter air clawed down her throat and stung her eyes. Helplessness welled up inside her—the kind she’d vowed she’d never feel again.

“Split up,” one of the guys yelled. “You take Fifty-Ninth Street.”

The cold bricks scraped along Anna’s palms as she moved until a sliver of a main road came into view around the bend. She shrank back and exhaled through her mouth.

“Over here.” A dark smirk emerged under the streetlight at the opposite end of the alleyway.

She sprinted through a stream of oncoming traffic and hustled up the stairs to the “L” platform.

She slowed long enough to scan behind her. The rumble of cars zipping below competed with the pulse in her ears. Wind rushed off Lake Michigan into the sweat-soaked collar clinging to her skin.

Anna scoured the platform from every angle. Black coats stood out all over the boarding area. Faces. Conversations. People swishing by in both directions. Any one of them could be the guys after her.

She couldn’t stop here. Couldn’t afford to assume she’d lost them. A wary glance along the tracks led her back into a jog. On shaky legs, Anna ran down the stairs and to the only place she knew to go.

Chapter Twelve

Pause

At the hotel bar, Evan checked his cell for the sixteenth time tonight. No messages. No reply texts from Harris. Where was he? Evan shoved the phone aside and grabbed his drink. He’d call Anna instead if she hadn’t made it clear she thought he was being overprotective.

Maybe he was. A pushover, too, for letting Marissa coax him into coming to this stuffy gala. She’d made a show of him for the first hour until whatever agenda she had got underway.

He lifted the cool glass to the cut on his lip and cracked a grin. Unable to give her the model-escort look she’d hoped for, Evan almost thought he’d unintentionally found a way out of coming. But then she’d ranted about having no last minute options.

Being a man of his word didn’t always lend itself to favorable situations. Evan swirled the ice cubes in his glass and grunted. Story of his life.

Behind him on the crowded floor, Marissa had each guy surrounding her in the palm of one hand and her fifth martini glass in the other. Obviously, she didn’t need him here, after all.

He chugged the last of his Coke and banged the glass to the counter. Like it or not, she’d still need him to take her home before one of those high rollers took advantage of her.

Evan worked the knot on his bow tie loose. Between the lingering clouds of cologne and alcohol, he could hardly breathe in here.

“Excuse me?” A silky voice drew his gaze toward a girl approaching. In a dress cut as low as her heels were high, she sashayed up to the empty seat beside him. “I couldn’t help noticing how lonely you look over here. Something on your mind?”

He almost laughed at the irony of her asking the same thing Anna had a few hours earlier. How could the same exact question have such different effects?

A curvy grin amplified her seductive gaze. “Why don’t you let me buy you a drink? I promise I can make you forget all about it.”

An inward shudder rippled down his body. “I’m here with someone.”

With a flick of her hair over her shoulder, she peered toward Marissa. “Your date seems a little . . . preoccupied.” Another provocative smile punctuated her point. “Sure you want to waste the night?”

“What do you think he’s trying to avoid?” someone said from behind him.

He swiveled around. Kate? He hadn’t seen her since high school graduation. She shot him a go-with-it expression to which he nodded in reply.

The woman beside him ran a glare up and down Kate’s profile before stalking toward her next target for the evening.

Evan nabbed his drink again. “Thanks. I didn’t want to have to get rude.”

Kate took the chair beside him. “Good thing for you, blunt’s still my middle name.” She leaned an elbow on the counter, sank her chin onto her hand, and slid a glance at his cell. “Must be a lucky girl.”

He scratched his cheek and jutted a thumb behind him. “I’m here with—”

“The wrong person. Yeah, I gathered.”

Shifting in his seat, Evan loosened his tie a little more.

“Don’t worry. Most people aren’t observant enough to pick up the subtext.”

“Except you.”

She laughed. “Yeah, well, years of working as an auditor will do that to ya. Details matter.” Laying a black clutch on the counter, she flagged the bartender for a refill of her drink. “What I really want to know is what you’re still doing here.”

He blinked at her.

She stirred the ice left in her glass with her straw. “Hey, I just call it like it is.”

Obviously. “Then you know my date is about two drinks away from being a sloppy drunk.”

“And you’re hiding behind the chivalrous knight role, waiting to take her home. Yeah, I caught that part, too.”

Another long blink. “I see you still haven’t found a filter.”

She almost spewed a sip of her fruity-smelling drink. “A lot of things might’ve changed since high school, but needing sarcasm to survive isn’t one of them.”

They shared a laugh. “It’s good to see you, Kate.”

“Ditto. Now, get outta here, already. I’ll make sure your
date
gets a taxi home.” She shoved him in the arm. “And just because I don’t show empathy most of the time, doesn’t mean I don’t have any. I got ya on this one.”

Evan rocked the bottom of his glass back and forth against the wooden counter.

Sighing, Kate pulled the napkin out from under her drink and laid a pen beside it. “Leave me your number if it makes you feel better. I’ll text you when she’s getting ready to leave.”

It wasn’t a bad plan. From what he’d seen from Marissa this week, she’d be milking the night for hours yet. There’d be enough time for him to check on Anna before Marissa was ready to leave.

After jotting down his number, Evan snagged his tux jacket off the back of the chair, turned, and stopped a foot away. He pivoted around with a grateful smile. “Thanks.”

Kate offered a nonchalant shrug. “I’m stuck here as a favor to my boss. One of us might as well get to escape. Besides, I’m sure I’ll need a return favor at some point.”

“Just say the word.” He pushed his arms through his jacket sleeves on his way toward the door without glancing at Marissa.

Slow, icy rainfall greeted him in the parking lot with a reminder of the upcoming storm the news had been cautioning about. In his car, he jabbed the button for the seat warmer, cranked the heat, and rubbed his hands together. They were almost as cold as Anna’s usually were.

Images of her monkey gloves and owl slippers garnered a laugh, but the thought of Michelli’s hired guns lurking around crowded out any humor. He called Harris and pinned the phone to his ear with his shoulder while backing out of the parking space.

“C’mon, man, pick up.”

Voicemail. Again. Evan dropped the cell and veered onto the main street. He’d go home, change, and do a quick sweep around Anna’s place. She’d never have to know he was checking up on her.

Almost to his hotel, he glanced at his phone. “Screw it.” With a gruff exhale, he scrolled to Anna’s number. She could be mad if she wanted. He needed to know she’d made it home safely.

Each ring stretched into the one behind it. Okay, if she didn’t answer either, he’d—

Her voicemail clicked on. Swearing, he tossed the phone onto the passenger seat and turned into his hotel parking lot. Five minutes to change and grab his Sig, and he’d be out of here. Something wasn’t right.

An incoming ring struck the silence. He slowed beside the curb and scrambled for the phone. About time Harris called back. “You better have a good reason for not answering my calls, bro.”

The pause from Harris’s end of the line caught Evan in the gut. “Harris?”

“Sorry, man. I got called in. Armed burglary. The suspect took a bystander, and things got ugly. I’m just now catching a breather.”

The Accord stalled in front of the hotel’s side door. “What about Anna?”

A second pause thrust the first one in even deeper. “I dropped her off at Brookfield. She said she was going to stay a while. I’m sorry. I had no choice.”

Evan gritted his teeth. Why did Murphy have to be out of town tonight? He would’ve been the one Evan asked to stand in his place.

A long breath filtered through the line. “I sent Officer Adams as soon as I could, but . . .”

Evan let go of the wheel. “Harris, I swear, if you pause one more time—”

“He found her cell in the grass . . . along with traces of blood. Looks like a fight went down.”

Fury assailed Evan’s veins. “Where is she?”

“I’m headed there now. Adams is already canvassing the area.” Harris exhaled again. “We’ll find her.”

That was Evan’s responsibility. He jerked the car back into drive and started to back up when someone inside the stairwell caught him short.
Bells
.

He threw the gearshift into park and jumped out. “Harris, she’s at my hotel. Have uniforms fan out. Chances are the perps are still on the prowl.”

“Ten-four.”

Evan pocketed his cell and blew through the door right as Anna was coming down the stairs. Relief rushed over him until his gaze flew from her bound hands to a bloody cut on her lip.

A dozen emotions wrestled behind her eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know where else to go.”

Sorry?

“What happened?” He sawed through the twine with his pocketknife.

“That guy from Megan’s apartment. He was waiting for me.”

Fingers balled, Evan prayed for self-control. Anna needed strength right now, not anger.

“I got away, but he sent two guys after me.” She gripped his sleeve. “I ran as hard as I could. I don’t think they followed me, but I—”

“Come here.” He closed her in his arms, and she quivered against him—cold, shaken. He held her tighter, rested his chin over her head, and willed his embrace to absorb every fear. “It’s okay. You’re safe.”

Minutes lapsed inside the stairwell as she clung to him. Every stupid justification he’d had for backing off earlier burned in his chest.

Once she calmed, she lifted away. He followed her apologetic gaze to a bloodstain on his white shirt. She touched a hand to her lip and backed up. “Your night . . . I didn’t mean to . . .”

He cupped her cheeks with both hands. “Anna, look at me. Don’t ever hesitate to come to me. This is home, okay?” He pulled her close again. “Right here. I’ve got you.” He pressed a kiss to the top of her hair. “Always.”

One day, he’d make up for every reason she had to doubt that truth.

The door whisked open behind them and ushered a frosty breeze inside. He shielded her and turned. A pot-bellied man with his tie halfway undone stumbled past them, glaring.

Evan secured an arm across Anna’s back and led her upstairs to his suite. They needed to get out of view. Painter and his punks might be stupid, but they’d be persistent. He’d take care of them later tonight. Right now, Anna needed him.

“You’ll have to give your statement to Harris.” Evan locked up behind them. “But let me take care of that cut first. You could use some time to let things settle.”

“I’m fine.” She rested a consoling hand to his, as if he were the one who needed to be comforted instead of her. “Really. I panicked for a minute, but I’m okay now.”

And as brave and stubborn as ever. Her eyes beseeched him to downplay it. Knowing that was how she coped, he’d do his best.

She wandered around the living area while he made his way to the kitchen.

“Sorry for the mess.”

Anna looked from the couch to him, the corner of her mouth tipping. “You mean the one throw pillow that’s out of place?”

Along with his open duffel bag beside the couch, the folders covering the desk, and the two framed pictures taking up most of the coffee table. Apparently, neatness was relative. A chuckle trailed the thought as he dumped a handful of ice into a Ziploc bag and searched the drawers for a dish towel to wrap it in.

He left it on the kitchen table, beside a washcloth and a bowl of warm water, and sifted through his bag for the first aid kit.

Anna settled on the couch and lifted one of the pictures from the coffee table. “You had it framed.”

A peek in her direction turned into a wistful smile. The photo wasn’t on his top ten list, but the night he’d taken it always would be. The summer between their junior and senior year. A week at her dad’s vacation home in the Outer Banks. He’d never felt more a part of their family. One he’d almost believed he could belong in.

Until his dad’s derisive laugh reminded him he’d never measure up to the Madison’s standards. “
You think that family accepts you? It’s called pity, boy. Save yourself some heartache, and stop trying to be more than you are
.”

Evan fisted his hands, clenching back what he couldn’t change. It didn’t matter. Whatever miniscule chance he had of proving his dad wrong died with Anna’s mom.

He swallowed his failures and focused on what Anna needed right now. At least reminiscing might take her mind off what’d just happened. “You like that one?”

“It’s one of my favorites. Well, all your work is, really.” She propped the frame against her knees. “But this one comes with some pretty great memories.”

“You remember that trip, huh?” He sat beside her and scratched his jaw.

“You kidding? I crack up every time I look at the starfish on my shelf.”

He pressed his tongue to the inside of his cheek. “You weren’t laughing when I tossed you off that pier.”

“But I was when I got you to dance on it that night.”

He raised a finger. “You were sworn to secrecy.”

Lips zipped together, Anna’s wry look sent his heart rate climbing. “Don’t worry, Sarge. All your secrets are safe with me.”

Except for the one he could never tell her.

She must’ve noticed his reaction. Looking away, she redirected her attention to the picture. “I’m glad you had it matted. Makes it feel like it’s freeze-framed in history that way.”

“You can thank my mom for that. She kept all my work.” Evan returned the frame to the coffee table and motioned to the other one. “They were in her apartment. I thought I’d have these two reframed for her while I’m here.”