Torn (11 page)

“I’ve got hair.” Carefully I stepped through
the large pool of blood and got a closer look. “Fuck. Goddamn it,
it’s hers.” Something had gone horribly wrong in here and it was
entirely my fault. “Motherfucker. I should’ve been here.”

Bobby left the room, gun drawn, and started
sweeping the house again.

“Where’s Ruger?” I realized we could get him
to track her or at least I hoped he could.

“Out back. I left him there because I didn’t
think we’d need him in the way. Why?”

“Get him. Old police dog—he can track
her.”

“Damn.” Drew flew out of the room.

Standing there alone in the bathroom, I
finally let my eyes take in the entire scene. She fought. Hard. All
of the crap on the vanity was strewn about on the floor covered in
blood, the mirror on my side had been smashed with what appeared to
be Leila’s head. A wave of nausea hit me. Oh God, what if this was
all her blood?

“I got nothing,” Bobby shouted up from the
second-floor landing. “Blood trail ends at the grass off the front
porch.”

Drew came up the steps with Ruger by his
side. I grabbed a pair of her pants off the floor and threw them
over to Drew. With one quick word in German he held the jeans out
to Ruger, “
Suche
.”

Ruger sniffed the jeans for a split second
then started tracking her.

“Dude, I don’t know if this is gonna work.
Her scent is everywhere,” Drew doubted as Ruger smelled his way
into our walk-in closet. “See, he’s just—”

“The panic room.” It dawned on me that she
could be in the panic room. I bolted to the back left side of the
rectangular room. There was blood all over the beige carpet. My
suits were all over the floor, the section hiding the room was
pulled out, and I knew. She made it into the room.

Bobby flew into the large closet, eyes wide
taking in the scene, but Drew chimed in first. “What the fuck?”

I started banging on the door after trying
the passcode to open the door. She had to have activated the system
if the code didn’t work. “Lei, open the door, babe. It’s me.
Quantico, damn it, Quantico.”

Ruger was barking like a fool and I was
thankful Drew was holding him by his collar. I looked up into the
camera; she had to see me. Why wasn’t she opening the door?

“Why can’t you just open the damn thing?”
Bobby asked.

“Once the system is engaged the only way to
open it is from the inside. There are cameras set up at the front
and back doors and here.” I pointed to the camera above the door.
“If whoever was here didn’t take her, she has to be in there.”

Banging on the door relentlessly, I started
to give up hope that she was in there or if she was then she was
hurt so bad that she couldn’t get to the door. Or worse, and
she’s…

No. I won’t go
there
.

She was alive. She had to be.

Chapter Fifteen

Leila

The dull sound of banging woke me. Thud…
Thud… Thud.

Oh God no. He’s back. It all rushed in like a
horrible nightmare.

Pain had set in. Wincing, I closed my eyes,
bringing my hand up to my temple to feel the dried blood caking the
side of my face. I looked down and saw all of the blood on Jaxon’s
shirt, then glanced over to the monitor, trying to make my eyes
focus.

“Jaxon,” I screamed when I saw his gorgeous
face on the screen. He was leaning on the door, fist banging,
looking exhausted.
God, how long was I
out?

Where is Drill? Did Jaxon
find him?

Knowing I had to get to the door to open it,
I sat up on the couch and tried to stand. Only to fail. My legs
were so weak I couldn’t even stand. I rolled myself off the couch
and crawled on my hands and knees to the steel door.

Once I reached the door, I used the handle to
pull myself to standing and pressed the code to use the intercom.
“Jax.”

“Oh God, Leila, open the door, babe. I’m
here. It’s okay. Open the door. Quantico.” Jaxon’s voice gave me
the burst of energy I needed to disengage the alarm and unlock the
heavy door. Pulling as hard as I could, the airtight seal broke and
the door slowly swung open.

The instant I saw him I lost it and sobbed,
partly from relief but mostly from fear. “Is he gone, Jaxon? Did I
kill him?” Jax rushed forward and caught me as I collapsed into
him. “Is he dead?”

“Shh, I got you, babe. It’s okay. I got you.
Are you all right?” He scooped me up then carried me out of the
room into our closet. “Drew. Get the medics!”

Jax took me out to the bed and gently set me
down. “Baby, who was it? Who did this to you?”

“Is he dead? Where is he? He was in the
bathroom. Is he dead? Did I kill him?” I gasped, trying to catch my
breath and stop crying.

“Who, Leila?” Drew interrupted rather
gruffly.

“Drill. I stabbed… I got out of the shower
and he came after me with a… I stabbed him. In the neck. I killed
him, didn’t I?” Why wouldn’t they answer me? A paramedic entered
the bedroom carrying a duffle.

“Babe, tell me what hurts. Is the,” Jax
paused, clearly fighting for control, “is the baby okay? He didn’t
hurt her, right?”

“I’m okay, I think. Just my head, but she’s
still moving around.” I looked down and saw the blood crusted on my
hands and down my arms from where I tried to wipe the head wound. I
didn’t even want to think about what I must look like. “What time
is it? How long was I out?”

“It’s nine o’clock. Do you remember what
time…this started?” he gritted out through his clenched teeth.

“Sir, I really need to check her out and get
her to the hospital,” the young paramedic said as he sat his bag on
the floor next to me.

“Right, sorry.” Jax scooted toward the foot
of the bed away from me, but kept his hand on my leg the whole
time.

“You’re not gonna leave me, right?” I knew
the answer before I asked and I was surprised at myself for asking.
He wouldn’t leave my side, even if I asked him to.

“Babe.” He cocked his head and gave me the
look. Shivers ran down my spine, even after my ordeal, he still got
to me. “I’ll never leave your side again.”

“Oh great, now you say that,” I tried to
joke, but the pained look on his face told me it was too soon.
“Sorry, Jax, I didn’t mean it.”

“No, it’s okay.” He hung his head then looked
over as Drew approached.

The paramedic introduced himself and started
to ask me what happened while bandaging the gaping laceration in
which you could probably lose a roll of dimes. I caught a glimpse
of myself as Jax walked past the mirror on the dresser.

I was a hot fucking mess. My legs were coated
in dried, hardened blood. Most of which wasn’t mine. It was
Drill’s. I couldn’t believe he got away. I must not have hit the
carotid like I had intended. I mean I didn’t really want to kill
him—but I did. What if I had though? The thought was
nauseating.

“Hey, Lei, how ya feelin’, kiddo?” Drew stood
behind the paramedic, looking like he wanted to knock the guy out
of the way.

“Okay, I think. Although I’d like to take a
shower and get all of this blood off me.”

Drew looked to the paramedic for reassurance.
“BP is a little low, which isn’t surprising, but I still want
transport to have her and the baby monitored. She’ll probably need
some stitches in her forehead and definitely a CT since she lost
consciousness.”

“Sounds good.” Jaxon eyed Drew then nodded to
the side. “Babe, I’ll be right back. I just gotta talk to your
brother for a minute. I’ll just be in the hall and Carlos here is
gonna be with you.”

“I’m fine, Jaxon, really,” I said to reassure
him. The medic stood and started packing his stuff back into the
duffle while Jax got up and kissed me before trudging out of the
bedroom.

Carlos sat back down on the bed. “Do you want
me to bring the stretcher up or do you think we can help you down
the stairs?”

“Please, I’d like to walk down if I must
go.”

“Ma’am, you took a pretty hard hit, we
definitely need to get you to the hospital.”

“Leila?” A tall, middle-aged man wearing
black cargo pants and a black shirt stood next to Carlos.

“Yeah?”

“Hi, Leila, my name is Commander Bob Gorden.”
He extended his hand. “I’d like to ask you a few quick questions
while everything is fresh in your mind. Is that okay?”

“Fuck no it’s not. Leave her alone, she can
answer your questions later.” Drew went into big brother mode.

“Matthews, I need you to wait outside.”
Commander Gorden didn’t take his eyes off me. Frankly, it was
really intimidating and I wanted to answer his questions so he
would leave. “Tommy, clear the room please.”

“All right, y’all heard the boss, everyone
out,” shouted a guy wearing riot gear. Quickly the room emptied
out, including Carlos, but Jaxon waltzed right back in past the guy
barking out orders. He nodded at Jaxon. “Coleman.”

“Bob, seriously? Can’t this wait ’til we get
her and the baby checked out? You can ask her in a few hours. I’ve
already questioned her. I can answer all of your questions.” Jaxon
was slightly more diplomatic than Drew, but only slightly. His neck
was tense, telling me he was reining it in and was about to
break.

“Leila, can you please tell me to the best of
your ability who did this to you?” The commander ignored Jaxon’s
request.

I looked at Jaxon then back to the tall man
towering over me. “Drill. I mean that’s how I know him. I’m not
really sure what his first name is.”

“That’s fine. Can you please tell me what you
were doing when you first saw the perpetrator?” His no-nonsense
monotone voice was gravelly.

Taking a deep breath, I started into the
night’s events. “I had just come out of the shower when I found him
sitting on the foot of the bed waiting for me.”

“Did he say anything?” He continued to
question me. Questions Jax had not asked and questions I didn’t
want to answer with Jaxon present.

“Uh, yeah.” Looking over to Jaxon, I started
chewing on my bottom lip and tearing up. Bob nodded for me to
continue, I took a deep breath and launched into the worst part. I
told him what he had said, then everything that happened in the
bathroom up to the part where I passed out in the panic room.

Jaxon looked as if someone had taken a knife
and gutted him right there on our floor. When I mentioned Drill
wanting his taste of me, I think Jaxon actually burst a blood
vessel in his forehead. He got up and started pacing as I described
in vivid detail what transpired after I grabbed for the
scissors.

“Enough. You got everything you need. She
needs a doctor, Bob.” Jaxon put his foot down. “Anything else can
wait ’til tomorrow. And call first.”

“I think I got everything, but if you
remember anything—”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah… She’ll call ya. I’m takin’
her to the hospital now.” Jaxon shouldered past him and scooped me
up.

“I’m walking. You’re not carrying me down two
flights of stairs. Just shot, remember? Put me down, just help
me.”

“Babe, I got you.”

“No, Jaxon, I am walking. Now put me the hell
down.” I was done with this shit. He was going to put me down or I
was going to… Well, I don’t know what I would’ve done but it
would’ve hurt. Luckily, it didn’t come to that because he put me
down.

“Whatever you want, babe.” He wrapped his arm
behind my back and under the opposite underarm to support me. We
walked out of our bedroom down to the second floor where Drew,
Bobby, the SWAT guy barking orders earlier, and Carlos my favorite
EMT had all congregated.

“Wait, where’s Ruger?” I looked around for my
shepherd.

“It’s okay, he’s out back. He wouldn’t let
anyone in, so Drew put him out back,” Bobby answered first.

“He’s fine, Lei. I’ll take him with me
tonight.” Drew came around and took the opposite side, helping me
down the rest of the stairs. I was thankful we had a wide
staircase.

“Thanks, Drew.”

Chapter Sixteen

Brody

Monday night I was working on a contract for
a piece of property in Mount Pleasant when my phone started to
ring.

“Hey, Drew, what’s wrong?” I noticed it was
damn near eleven o’clock; something had to be up.

“Leila’s in the hospital and she asked me to
call you.”

“She’s in labor?” I jumped up from the desk,
slamming my knee into the middle drawer. “Son of a bitch.”

“No, she was attacked in the house. She’s
okay, she just wanted you to know that she’s here and everything is
fine. Baby’s good too.” Drew’s voice was calm and reassuring.

“I’m actually at the office, I’ll be there in
ten minutes.” I hung up before I could hear him argue. I knew Drew
wouldn’t lie to me, but I had to see her with my own eyes. She was
the mother of my child and even though she had walked away from me,
I still loved her. I wanted to be able to turn it off and stop the
hurting, but unfortunately, love didn’t work like that.

Driving to the hospital, I caught myself
getting excited and worried to see her.
Damn
it.
I punched the steering wheel, making it honk.

Parking the car in the bullshit-parking
garage was a nightmare as usual. When I finally arrived at the ER
desk, I was directed to the back. Walking down the hall, I saw a
group of men dressed in all black, so I took a wild guess that was
probably her room.

“Drew,” I called from behind the group. Drew
came forward. “Where is she?”

“Hey, B, she’s in there but they are getting
ready to take her for an ultrasound.” Drew slapped my hand and
pulled me in, patting me once on the back.

“Did something happen to the baby? Is she
okay?” My stomach leapt into my throat at the thought of something
wrong with either of them.