Empty Net (48 page)

How was this happening? Why had she let him in?

“I am going to teach you that my love is the only love that is right for you, you fucking bitch!” Audrey couldn’t tell if it was her tears that made her face so wet or spit from his mouth, or maybe it was even blood. Levi slammed her head against the wall again and she let out another scream.

“Please, stop!” she cried.

“No! I love you, and if you don’t want me then no one will have you!”

Again he slammed her head against the wall, and all she could do was pray that he didn’t kill her baby. She didn’t care about her face, her body, but her baby was another story. Levi was too big, and she knew she couldn’t fight back; all she could do was protect her child and hope that they made it through this. But when she slowly opened her eyes, which were swelling up, and looked into Levi’s eyes, she knew that he was going kill her.

She tried to cover her face, but his fist connected with her jaw again, knocking her to the floor. Her whole body shook with pain, and every time his fist met her body, white heat exploded as lights went off behind her eyes. When he started to kick her thighs while slamming his fist into the back of her head, all she could do was hope it would be over soon. She prayed for Tate to save her but knew he wouldn’t be home in time.

She wrapped her arms around her waist and couldn’t help but think, So much for her Happily Ever After, because she knew she was about to lose it all.

Even her life.

She was losing consciousness quickly, her body screaming in pain, but she swore she
could hear Fallon.

Was her sister there?

“No, Fallon, run,” she whispered, but that only rewarded her with Levi’s foot colliding with her mouth, knocking what felt like teeth to the back of her throat.

“Audrey, why aren’t you answering your cell? You know it’s intense when I call your house phone! Oh my God, let me tell you what that fuck face asshole Levi did! He has been embezzling money from Lucas for years! Lucas is freaking out, oh my God, where the hell are you? Shit! Call me back!”

It was the last thing Audrey heard before everything went black.

“I can’t fucking believe this shit!”

Tate nodded from the passenger side of Lucas’s Explorer. “It’s bullshit, I’m sorry, dude.”

“It fucking sucks, ’cause I’m all over the news as the idiot whose best friend was stealing his money right out from underneath him. I am so fucking mad. Fallon is flipping out and no one can find the fucker. Let me see him, I swear to God, Tate, I’ll kill him!”

“I don’t blame you, this is nuts.”

He would be furious if his friend had been stealing money from him for almost a year too, Tate thought. Lucas got the call while they were in New York, and it was already all over the NHL network because of the warrant issued for Levi’s arrest. It was crazy. Levi had stolen almost five million dollars before Lucas’s accountant noticed. No one could believe it. Molly, Lucas’s mother, was heartbroken, and William was sending his lawyers to help Lucas’s lawyers build a case. Basically, everyone wanted this guy to burn at the stake, and Tate didn’t blame them one bit.

When Lucas’s phone rang for what seemed the hundredth time, Tate glanced down at his own, sending a text to Audrey as Lucas answered.

“Hey baby, no, I don’t know, hold on,” Lucas said, then asked him, “Hey, have you heard from Audrey?”

Tate looked up. “About thirty minutes ago, why?”

“Fallon says she is trying to get a hold of her but she isn’t answering.”

Tate dialed Audrey’s number then, but it went straight to voice mail.

That’s weird, he thought as he looked back at Lucas. “I don’t know. She isn’t answering my calls either.”

“No, baby, surely not,” Lucas said calmly into his phone. “Don’t think like that. It’s okay. I’ll have her call you once we get there. It’s okay, baby. Fal, don’t stress.” When he put the phone down in his lap, he said to Tate, “I have to keep calm to keep her calm. Fallon freaks about everything.”

Tate smiled. “What is she freaking out about?”

Lucas shook his head. “She says she is scared because she can’t get hold of Audrey and the cops can’t find Levi.”

“So? Audrey is probably asleep. She’s been sick.”

“See, we know this, but Fallon isn’t rational, she thinks Levi went after Audrey. It’s a crazy thought that only my crazy wife—” Lucas’s words cut off as his face filled with worry. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

“What?” Tate saw the car in Audrey’s driveway then. Lucas accelerated, drove into Audrey’s yard, and braked sharply to a halt. He threw the truck in park as he kicked opened the door.

“What the hell are you doing?” Tate yelled.

“Stay in the truck, Tate,” was all Lucas said before jumping out.

Tate was right behind him, though. Something wasn’t right. Rushing around the truck, only two steps behind Lucas, the two of them hurried toward Audrey’s door. Tate’s heart was pounding against his chest. The door flew open then, and the last person he expected to see walked out.

Levi.

Lucas stopped and Tate barreled into him as Levi looked at both of them. He looked crazy, his eyes wide, his shirt baggy in spots, and he had open wounds on his face.

“Tate, go back to the truck,” Lucas said slowly.

“Fuck no,” Tate said, moving beside him. “I’m not going to let you fuck your career up.”

Tate took a step toward Levi and said to him, “Just wait a minute. I wouldn’t move if I were you, because Lucas is ready to kill you and I can’t guarantee your safety if you run.” He looked toward the open door then and shouted, “Audrey! Call the police!”

Levi turned toward the door, then back to Tate and Lucas before he nodded and moved his hand into his pocket.

When Audrey didn’t answer, Tate called out again, “Audrey? Baby, do you hear me?”

“Why is there blood on his hands?” Lucas asked.

Levi looked up, grinned, and then he was off, making a mad dash for his car. He wasn’t fast enough, though. Lucas caught up and threw him against the trunk of Audrey’s car, then grabbed him by the throat.

Tate, meanwhile, stood frozen in place, a dreadful feeling in the pit of his stomach. Sweat was dripping down his temple as he stood in the frigid temperatures of January. He knew something was wrong. He just couldn’t get his legs to move toward Audrey’s condo.

Looking back, he saw Lucas had Levi on the ground, his foot on Levi’s neck while he had his phone out in his palm. Tate looked back up and started taking shaky steps toward the open door. “Audrey?” he called, hoping like hell that she would appear in the doorway smiling. When she didn’t, he called her name again, and only got to the second step up to the porch when her limp feet came into view. He rushed up the stairs then, pushed the door open wider and saw her bloody body on the floor.

“Oh my God,” he said, rushing to her, picking up her limp body and wrapping her in his arms. Her head fell back, blood dripping from it as he lightly shook her. “Oh my God, please, Audrey, baby, talk to me,” he said, turning up her face.

Her eyes were swollen shut, her lips busted. and her face covered in bright red blood.

“Audrey!” he yelled, shaking her more fiercely. When she didn’t wake, he brought her body closer to him. He moved his shaking hands to her throat, pressing his finger to her neck, not feeling a pulse. “Oh God, Audrey, no, baby, please, don’t leave me, please,” he said, hot tears pooling in his eyes and falling down his cheeks. His chest was aching, his heart beating so fast he was sure it was going to pop out of his chest and run away. His body was shaking uncontrollably and he wasn’t sure he was actually breathing. Holding her close, Tate didn’t know what to do. He didn’t know how to move. He didn’t know how to think. “Baby, please, Audrey, love, talk to me, please, don’t leave me,” he cried, his lips dusting her temple as he held her close.

He had to help her. He couldn’t just sit there. Laying her back down on the floor, he moved his hands to her chest, pressing hard as he administered CPR.

“Oh my God, Tate.”

Tate looked up to see Lucas, his hands out in front of him and panic on his face as he crouched down beside them. “Fuck, is she breathing? Please say she’s breathing.”

Tate shook his head as the tears rushed across his face and down his arms while he continued the CPR. Sobs ripped through him as he blew air into her mouth and went back to the compressions.

“The ambulance is coming, hold on, Audrey, hold on,” Lucas yelled, but to Tate, it was like being in a bubble, everything around him far away. It seemed he was about to pass out, his chest cramping, and he felt like he couldn’t breathe as people moved around him.

“Tate, move,” he heard Lucas say. “The paramedics are here.” Tate finally looked up, and saw two paramedics standing behind Lucas. “Move, let them take over,” Lucas said again, and Tate nodded and moved away. The paramedics were on her within seconds as Lucas pulled him away, taking him in his arms. “Breathe, man, breathe.” Tate shook his head, moving out of Lucas’s arms and looking down at Audrey’s lifeless body as the paramedics worked on her.

He hadn’t saved her, he hadn’t brought her back.

He let her die, because he wasn’t here to protect her, just like he wasn’t there to save his parents and sister.

She was gone.

His hands went to his eyes, wiping away tears as he moved out the door. He braced himself against the pillar outside their condos and took in deep, shuddering breaths. A sudden wave of nausea hit him hard, and then he was vomiting over the side of his porch. Shaking, he expelled all of his stomach contents before standing up and resting his arms above his head. She couldn’t be gone, she couldn’t. It wasn’t fair! What was wrong with him? Why couldn’t he get a break? Was he going to lose everyone he loved?

Glancing out at his yard, he saw cops, paramedics, and firefighters. Their neighbors stood in the doorways watching and talking to each other about what was going on. FBI agents were surrounding someone, and when one of the agents moved aside, Tate saw who they were questioning.

The man who took his sunshine away.

He was across the yard in seconds, lunging for Levi, knocking him to the ground. His fist only connected twice with Levi’s face before he was pulled off by officers. His knuckles were on fire, his heart was breaking, and he still couldn’t breathe, but he didn’t care, he had to get to
Levi. Pulling away, he got to Levi again, this time only getting in one punch before they pulled him. An officer flipped Tate over, his mouth filling with cold grass as he was handcuffed with his hands behind his back.

“What the fuck are you doing! That fucker beat the shit out of his girlfriend; he is not in his right mind!” Lucas yelled. Tate heard him as they picked him up and took him to a cop car. He didn’t struggle. He didn’t resist. He just went. What else could he do?

He had just lost the one person he had left.

Fallon couldn’t breathe.

Running full speed through the hospital to the E.R., she felt like her lungs were about to burst from her chest. Her nausea was in full force but she couldn’t deal with that right now. She couldn’t deal with anything, she could only run. She heard her mother and father behind her, running and trying to keep up, but she couldn’t wait.

Audrey was hurt and she had to get to her. Now.

She knew it! She knew as soon as Lucas called telling her about what Levi had done, the motherfucker was going to mess with her baby sister. She just didn’t know that he would hurt her like this. Didn’t know he would go to this extreme. How could he? Who could hurt someone so sweet and so beautiful? Tears burned her eyes as she ran, until she finally saw the sign for the E.R. Pushing the door open, she ran to the front desk.

“My sister was taken here. I have to see her or the doctor who is caring for her. Please. Her name is Audrey Jane Parker. Please.”

The receptionist looked startled, but she nodded, typed quickly on her keyboard, then
looked up at Fallon, “She was brought in thirty-three minutes ago. There is no other information available. Let me call back and see if they can give me anything.”

Fallon nodded, her heart pounding as her parents came up behind her. “Do they know anything?” William asked, breathing heavily.

“No, she is calling back now,” Fallon answered as she pulled out her phone. She hit Lucas’s icon and it rang until he answered.

“Baby, I can’t talk right now,” he said.

“Was she breathing?”

“Yes, they resuscitated her, but she was still unconscious when they put her in the back of the ambulance. I am on my way to the police station to get Tate. Have you seen or heard anything?”

“No, I just got here. I had to drop Aiden off at Susie’s and then meet my parents before coming up here.”

“Okay, call me when you know something.”

“Okay, love you.”

“Love you, baby girl; everything is going to be fine.”

“I hope you’re right,” Fallon said just as the receptionist hung up her phone.

“She is under the care of Dr. Aquino,” the woman said. “He is finishing up and then he will be out to speak with you.”

“Is she okay?” William asked the nurse, his hand clutching Fallon’s. She looked down at it and then back up at him. He was beyond himself with worry. They all were.