Unauthorized Obsession (Unauthorized Series Book 3) (19 page)

Kara lay on her back, her face and neck throbbing, her hands and legs tied together, knowing this was going to be it. Seth had won, and no one was going to think of looking for him here until it was too late.
Don't give up
, her mind snarled at her.
You won’t even have a chance if you’re giving up already.
Kara gritted her teeth and watched Seth closely, looking for her chance, however small it would be. She knew he had to be planning on killing her. Otherwise, she never would have gotten to see his face.

Seth dragged her by her feet into the living room, away from the line of sight of the front door. For the first time, Kara wondered where Duke was. She looked out the sliding glass door to the back of her and could see nothing moving in the dark yard. Anger flared inside her head. If he had hurt Duke …

Seth kicked her lightly in the hip. A grin spread across his face, now that they weren’t fighting to the death. “I bet you are surprised to see me here, a-a-a-a-aren’t you?” he said, a mocking tone to his voice as he pretended to stutter.

Kara narrowed her eyes and watched him closely. So he’d been faking the whole time. To what end? Why fake having a stutter? Just in order to seem to be a completely different person than he really was? And what should she say? Should she pretend that she hadn’t figured out it was him? Should she play along with whatever sick fantasy game he was cooking up? Her survival instincts said yes, she should do both, but she knew she wouldn’t. He was the worst kind of monster, the kind who pretended to be someone very different than he really was. If he hadn’t duct taped her mouth shut, she would spit in his face.

He kicked her in the hip again, not quite as lightly. “I know you are surprised,” he said as if she had agreed with him. “Me and you, we’re going to have some fun tonight, aren’t we?”

Kara resisted the urge to shake her head and lash out at him with her feet. If he climbed on top of her, she would kick and hit. She would fight until she couldn’t fight anymore. There was no way she was going to just let this happen.

Seth looked around the room, muttering under his breath, then standing still for several moments not making a sound. Kara watched him closely, trying to figure out his actions. He turned around and disappeared down the hallway to her bedroom, but only for a split second. Before she could think about getting to her feet he was back, his face heavy.

“I need something to tie you to, because I can see in your eyes that you aren’t going to cooperate with me. But that’s okay, you don't have to cooperate for us to have fun,” he said thickly. “It looks like the only thing I have to tie you to is your own bed. So I guess we’ll be taking a trip down the hallway,” he said, lifting up her feet. “Unless you have any other suggestions?” he said, an evil smile on his face.

Kara thought desperately, trying to find a way out of this mess. A knock sounded on her door, freezing her cold. Zane’s voice drifted into the living room. “Kara, it’s me. Can we talk?”

Seth dropped her feet with a thud. “Lover boy is home early," he growled quietly. "I wonder if he would like to watch or if I should just kill him right away?” He pulled a gun from the small of his back and a silencer from his cargo pocket. He began to thread the two items together and Kara tried to scream, but with the duct tape over her mouth, the only noise that came out was small and insignificant.

***

Zane got out of the taxi in front of Kara’s house, thinking that he still didn’t know what he was going to say to her. Maybe he would just let her do the talking. He had come here, and he knew in his heart that meant he was at least partially over everything that had happened.

The taxi pulled away and he headed up the walkway. A large shape darted out of the darkness, startling him. He pulled back, eyes open wide to see what it was. The shape barreled into him, almost knocking him over. “Duke?”

He looked closer. It was Duke, but with a muzzle over his mouth? And what was he doing out front? Zane examined Duke closely. He seemed happy enough, his tail was going a mile a minute as usual, but his front and back paws were covered in dirt. “What’s going on fella?" The longer Zane stared at him, the louder a warning bell inside him became. He didn’t think Kara would ever put a muzzle on her dog, and there just wasn’t any reason for it with a dog as sweet as Duke. Grasping Duke’s collar, he crept up to Kara’s front porch and stood silently, suddenly feeling that knocking would be a bad idea. He listened closely but didn’t hear anything. He held his hand up to the door, preparing to knock, but the warning bells that had served him so well in Iraq wouldn’t calm down. He felt an insane urge to check his weapon, but he knew he wasn’t carrying one.

He dropped his hand slowly and crept down off of the porch. He would look around first. He walked to the back of the house and pushed open the gate on the high wooden fence, hoping it wouldn't creak. In the glow of the light falling out of the windows of the house, he saw immediately how Duke had gotten out. A large hole under the fence right next to the gate. He let Duke go into the yard and picked up a large, heavy pot filled with strawberries, placing it in the hole so Duke couldn’t get back out. He left the gate standing open and crept along the fence towards the house. When he reached the window he soundlessly peeked inside.

Sour anger filled his mouth like bile. Kara was tied up on the floor and a man was standing over her. As he watched, the man kicked her in the hip. Zane's hands clenched into fists unconsciously. He felt a black and bitter rage flood through his system, but it was overlaid with something deeper, more primal. He didn’t stop to consider what that something was, but if he would have, he would have realized it was a sudden terror of losing someone very dear to him. The disconcerted hurt he’d felt since he’d been arrested yesterday was gone, flash-fried in a fear so great it threatened to knock him to the ground. This was different than anything he’d dealt with before, even during his campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. He’d cared for his fellow soldiers like brothers, but Kara? He loved Kara with his mind, body, and soul, he just hadn’t known it consciously till now. She’d worked her way into his life and eclipsed anyone else as the most important person there. If he lost her, he would die inside. If he lost her in this way, in the next moment or two, before he could get in there to help her, he would hate himself forever.

Zane ducked down under the window quickly and considered his options. Call the police? His phone was dead. Go to a neighbor? But then he would have to wait for the police. Anything could happen to Kara in that time. Crash through the window? Zane chanced another look inside and saw immediately the man had a holster under his clothing. Zane had nothing but his bare hands.

He ducked under the window again and made his decision. He would have to go for the element of surprise, and tear this bastard’s head off if he could. This man didn’t deserve to live for one more minute.

Zane crept back out the gate and shut it behind him. He ran quickly to the front door and raised his arm one more time. The rest of his life rested on the events of the next few seconds. He would get it right, he had to. For Kara.

He knocked loudly. “Kara, it’s me. Can we talk?” he called, trying to appear relaxed on the outside, but tensing his muscles for the second the door was opened.

***

Seth strode quickly through the living room, like a lion on the hunt. As soon as he took a step away from Kara, she spun onto her belly and tried to stand up, tried to follow him, shrieking Zane’s name, not that he could hear her. Her imagination supplied a terrifying image of Zane taking a bullet to the chest. Kara thought she would just give up if that happened. She wouldn’t have the will or the energy to fight anymore.

But Zane didn’t have a clue what was going on in here! He was walking into the lion’s den without a weapon or even any forewarning. He didn’t have a chance …

Kara almost toppled, but gained her footing and managed to hop around the wall separating the living room from the foyer just in time to see Seth turn the knob with his left hand, his right hand holding the gun at chest level, pointing it at the door. He stood at a strange angle behind the door and Kara could see his plan was to open the door while hiding behind it so that Zane took a step inside, then ambush him, just as he had ambushed Kara.

She tried to scream again, anything to warn Zane. Anything to keep him alive. Anything to spare her the killing pain of seeing him pulled into this mess with her.

But the second the latch was sprung, the door heaved open, as if someone were pushing it on the other side with all his strength. The door caught Seth’s gun hand, twisting it mercilessly, then slammed into his face and knocked him against the wall. Zane rushed in and pulled the door back a foot, then slammed it against Seth again. The gun spun across the room and Zane fell on Seth, his right hand pistoning up and down as he pummeled Seth in the face and head. Seth got over his astonishment quickly and began to fight back, getting a hand between him and Zane and warding off some of the blows. Seth hitched a knee into Zane’s abdomen and Zane grunted but shook it off and continued to fight, blood springing from his knuckles and Seth’s nose. The two men were grunting and swearing at each other with abandon.

Kara stood stunned for too long. Zane was fighting like a man possessed. Like a man who was determined to win at any cost. Like a man who knew exactly what the stakes were.

Seeing the blood fly across her floor spurred her into action. She tried to hop to the gun but she knew that would take her all day. She half fell, half climbed onto her coffee table and used the sharp corner to rip through the duct take binding her legs. She turned around and saw Zane take a thundering punch to the head. She couldn’t take the time to cut through her wrist bindings. She ran to Seth's gun, the duct tape flapping at her ankles. She snatched it off the ground and whirled around to point it at Seth, but the two men were still locked together in their deadly battle. She took a precious couple of seconds to reach behind her and trade Seth’s gun for her own, the one she had fired a thousand times in training. The one she knew she was deadly with.

“Zane! Get away from him!” she screamed, pointing the gun to the right of them. Seth bit down on Zane’s arm and Zane screamed in pain and hammered on his head, his knuckles leaving bloody prints all over Seth’s face.

“Zane!” she screamed again. “Get back, get back!”

Zane slammed Seth’s head against the wall one more time and pulled away, backing to the other wall behind him.

Kara leveled her gun at Seth’s chest, her gaze deadly serious. “Put up your hands, Howell,” she ordered, her voice steel, her nerves iron. He’d lost. Hopefully he knew it.

He blinked at her, nose dripping blood, bloodied red tattoos covering his cheeks, looking like he didn’t understand how all of this had happened. Then he lifted his left foot to meet his hands, his eyes never leaving hers once, as he pulled something from his boot.

“Gun!” Zane shouted, but Kara was already shooting.

Kara never wanted anything in her life as badly as she wanted to look away from Seth as he died on the floor in front of her. But she couldn’t. She wouldn’t. She held her gun on him, watching for the slightest twitch, the smallest movement that would signify he was faking, or had on body armor, or anything that would mean she and Zane were still in danger. As blood spilled from his chest she relaxed slightly, and the horror of what she had been forced to do filled her consciousness.

She heard Zane behind her, talking softly to someone. 911. Asking for police and an ambulance. But sirens already filled the night outside. She could hear them, far away. Gunshots in a quiet neighborhood did that.

Kara’s shoulders shook and everything else was driven out of her mind. For the first time in thirty-six hours she wasn’t painfully reliving her moment of weakness in Zane’s backyard. But that would come back she was sure, she didn’t know why Zane was here, but she knew he couldn’t have forgiven her. What she did was unforgivable.

She felt a hand on her shoulder. Before she turned her gaze from the man in front of her, she stepped forward and kicked his second gun out of his reach. Then she stepped back again and willed the hand to drop back on her shoulder. Please God, if Zane was touching her that would mean he didn’t hate her, right?

Police cars pulled onto her quiet street, distracting both of their focus. Officers swarmed up the walk and separated them. The investigational aftermath began.

***

Kara left the interrogation room at the police department, her feet dragging on the floor. She glanced at a clock on the wall and sighed. 7:15 a.m. She’d been here all night, telling her story over and over again. She’d talked to a dozen detectives, had her hands swabbed for gunpowder, pictures of her wrists and ankles and cheek taken, and had to write out a dozen reports.

Sgt. Gale hurried down the hallway toward her. “Done?” she asked, her face kind. Kara nodded, glad to see that compassionate look. She didn’t think she could stand the old Sgt. Gale right now.

“Great. Go home and get some sleep. But make sure you see the AC on your way out. He wants to talk to you.”

“Okay,” Kara said, plodding past.

Sgt. Gale stopped her, then pulled her in to an awkward hug. “You did good,” she whispered, then pushed past her and walked briskly down the hall. Kara stared after her, open-mouthed. She still wasn’t sure what had happened to make Sgt. Gale change her attitude so drastically.

Kara finally got going again, her eyes heavy. She would sleep for about a week. And then she would think about what had happened. She wished she had had a chance to talk to Zane. She needed to know how he felt about her so badly it hurt. She needed to know why he had come to her house? To yell at her? To talk it out? To say ‘yeah, about us? That’s over.’ But he was already home, she was sure. He hadn’t shot anyone, and he wasn’t a cop, so his questioning should have taken way less time than hers.

She pushed the door open that led into the receiving area and almost ran into Assistant Chief Foley. He gathered her into an immediate hug.

“Kara,” he said, his voice deep and comforting. “Are you okay?”

She nodded, a deep weariness not allowing anything else.

“I know you’ve never shot anyone before. Is it bothering you?”

Kara shook her head no. It wasn’t. She’d always thought it would, and maybe under different circumstances it would, but she’d been saving her life, and Zane’s life, and she’d had absolutely no choice in the matter. If she hadn’t pulled the trigger, Seth Howell would have.

“Good. You’re on a week's paid leave. Standard practice. I know the shooting will be found to be justified, so you just plan on showing up for your shift in seven days.” Kara nodded, relieved. “And you aren’t required to see the department shrink, but if you want to, she’s available at any time.” He slipped her a card. “Her cell number is on the back.”

“Thanks, Chief,” she whispered, slipping the card into her pocket.

“You can call me anytime too,” he said, his eyes gravely serious. She nodded. She knew that.

He gave her a final hug and held her at arm’s length. “Now get out of here. There’s someone waiting for you out there,” he said, his head bowing toward the waiting room.

Kara’s eyes jerked to the door that led out there. Zane? No, it couldn’t be him, could it? It was Ivy she bet. Ivy and Joe had both been in to see her last night and both held her and asked if there was anything they could do for her. They had brought her clothes to change into and a meal to eat. Ivy had been through some of this already, and knew how it could affect a person, but Kara had finally forced the both of them to go home and get some sleep. They both had to work today. Tired officers made mistakes, and she didn’t want that on her conscience.

She strode to the door, mind set to ask Ivy what she thought she was doing, why wasn’t she home sleeping? She pushed open the door and felt surprise jolt through her midsection, widening her eyes and quickening her heartbeat. Zane stood there, across the otherwise-empty room, his dark eyes watching her calmly. His face was bruised, but other than that he looked whole and healthy and achingly handsome. She couldn’t move. Could barely breathe. Did this mean …?

Zane walked to her slowly, then brushed a hand gently down her cheek when he reached her. “You’re okay.” he whispered.

“Thanks to you,” she replied softly. He shook his head and she grabbed his hand as it left her cheek. She pulled it into her chest. “No really. You came for me. You saved my life.”

He rubbed his thumb across her palm and his lips curved into the smallest of smiles. “I did what I could.”

Kara didn’t know what to say. Her heart swelled and her throat closed. She felt tears threaten behind her eyes. “Thank you,” she whispered. “And I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry I thought it was you. It was only for a split second, but I know that had to have hurt you.”

He shook his head slowly, but his words were affirmative. “It did hurt. But when I saw you tied up on the floor I realized what you were dealing with. Seth Howell was devious and he knew exactly how to push your buttons in the worst possible way. I’m over it.”

“You forgive me?”

“Completely,” he uttered and Kara felt something deep and painful inside her break and fall away from her heart. She bit her lip and stifled a sob.

“Oh thank God,” she cried and threw herself into his arms. He caught her and nuzzled her neck and Kara felt the world shift under her feet. It shifted back into place, back where things were right and good and people were kind and wonderful. Zane held her against him, brushing her hair back from her face and whispering sweet, meaningful words into her ear. Her heart soared at his sentiment and her skin sang at his touch. The last two days dropped off her almost completely.

Finally, he pulled back slightly and looked deeply at her. “I bet you’re tired, but I’m pretty sure your house still has detectives in it. Want to come home with me? I’ve got a guest bedroom.”

Kara smiled sweetly. “Not if you’re going to put me in the guest bedroom.”

Zane’s smile mirrored hers. “Sorry, I’ll sleep in the guest bedroom. You can have my bed.”

Kara reached out with a pouty smile and tried to pinch his chest beneath his shirt. He shied away but not before she felt nothing but solid muscle under his shirt. And just like that, her mouth went dry and her mind lost some of its ability to think. She watched his full lips pull back into a hearty laugh, the gorgeous dimple appear on one cheek, and his eyes twinkle sharply. All she could think was
Love him, Love him, Love him, I do love him. I love him so much.

Kara pulled back and her mouth dropped into an "O
"
of surprise. She loved him? When had that happened? And could she dare to hope that someday he would return the feeling?

His face crinkled in concern immediately and he pulled her close again. “Hey, you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just … tired.”

He put a hand in the small of her back and steered her towards the door. “It’s settled then. I’ll sleep on the couch and you can take my bed.” She laughed lightly and allowed herself to be led into the parking lot to his truck.

“How’d you get your truck here?”

“I met your sister." He smiled crookedly. "She took me home last night to get it.”

Kara looked at him suspiciously. “You’ve been here since Ivy got off work last night?”

“Well, it was about 2:30 a.m. Is that when she gets off work?”

“No, that’s when she left me and I told her to go home to sleep.”

Zane nodded thoughtfully. “She said you’d still be a while. But I didn’t keep her long. She just dropped me at my house.”

Kara reached for the passenger door and was startled by Duke jumping up from where he’d been curled, sleeping on the seat. “You brought Duke!” she cried joyfully, opening the door and levering herself up next to him.

“Yeah, I thought you’d feel better if he were with us. Can you stay awake long enough for me to pick up Kevin and Lucy from the kennel”

Kara nodded, happy, sleepy, and a little scared from her inner revelation a few moments before. Duke climbed on her lap, too big to be a lapdog, but somehow just right. She put her arms around him, breathed in his puppy dog scent, and dozed lightly as Zane picked up his dogs then pointed them towards home.

As the five of them walked in Zane’s front door and the three dogs took off to smell every inch of the house, Zane turned her. “Do you want to eat before you sleep?”

Kara considered. She could eat. But she could also just sleep. “Only if you do,” she said.

“Oh, I do. I could have a ham and cheese omelet whipped up in ten minutes.”

Kara nodded mildly and followed him to the kitchen. She watched him gather supplies and start the food cooking from where she sat in a chair at the kitchen table. He worked mostly silently, occasionally muttering to himself or turning around to check on her. His face looked as tired as she was sure hers did. She didn’t feel like talking. They’d already said all the important things.

Within eight minutes he slid a plate piled high with eggs, cheese, and ham in front of her. She ate quickly and gratefully, her mind a pleasant drone of non-thought.

She was just happy to be here. Happy to have this second chance. Never once did she look out the back door at the shed that stood in the yard.