Breaking Free

Chapter Thirteen

Nolan pulled his truck into the parking space next to Beth’s. The relief of seeing her truck and trailer let him take his first decent breath since he’d listened to her message. He wasn’t too late.

Stepping out of his truck, he noticed two suitcases wedged between the mower and brush cutter in her trailer. So she had been serious about running. Dammit. He stalked toward her apartment then slowed. Little rabbits frightened easily; he’d need to go easy. Not roll right over her with…

Her door was ajar.

He nudged it open with his foot. “Beth?” An edgy feeling crawled up his spine and raised the hair on his scalp. Over the last year in Iraq, his instincts had become as fine-tuned as when he’d been slitting throats for the CIA. Head up, body tensed, he reached down and drew the knife from his boot sheath.

Remaining in the doorway, he scrutinized the one-room apartment. Totally silent. Boxes on the stripped bed. Curtains still drawn and lights on. Pots and pans stacked on the counter. A canvas bag on the small kitchen table, cell phone beside it.

Dark spots just inside the door on the beige carpet. He bent, touched one lightly. Wet. Red. He sniffed. Blood.

“Wake up, darling. Time to play.”

Beth heard the voice, her mind moving like sludge, still thick with nightmare images. She didn’t like that voice and couldn’t remember why, but the sound made something inside her wail in terror.

If the voice wanted her to wake up, then she wouldn’t.

She let her breathing stay long and slow, kept her body limp, and her eyes closed. She fought to stay awake, and lost the battle. But something was very wrong…

“What happened?” Frowning, Z walked into Beth’s apartment. “And give me more than ‘Beth’s been grabbed.’”

Seated at the kitchen table, Nolan glanced up, a moment’s relief running through him. Reinforcements. “Got a message telling me goodbye, said she was leaving because her husband-the bastard who gave her those scars and who she escaped from-found out she was in Tampa.” He smothered a growl. “When I got here, the door was open. Car and trailer in the lot. Purse, cell phone here on the table. Blood there.” He nodded at the stain on the carpet.

Z touched the blood. “Still wet.” He glanced around. “This looks bad.”

“Yeah. How the hell do we find her?” Nolan scrubbed his face with his hands. “I don’t even know where she came from or where her husband lives.”

“California,” Z said. “She let that drop one day.”

“That helps. To get back there, he’ll have to drive or fly. Either way, he’ll probably use his credit card.”

“Do you know her husband’s name?” Z walked around the cabin, checked the chest of drawers.

“She said Kyler on the message. But she’s smart. She’d have changed her last name.” Nolan tapped his finger on the table and then grabbed the cell phone lying on the table. “Somebody else might know the bastard’s name though.” He found the phone’s contact list and arrowed through the entries. “Mom. That’s promising.”

A minute later, he had a hysterical woman screaming in his ear. “Ma’am, please. We’re looking for her. I need to know her husband’s name. His legal name.” He pushed the button for the speaker phone.

“Kyler Stanton. It’s Kyler Stanton. Please, he’s a horrible man. He’ll kill her.” The woman was crying so violently, she choked.

“Listen to me,” Nolan ordered, knowing just how she felt. Damned if he didn’t want to put his fist through the wall. “Your daughter is important to me, and I will find her. Can you trust me to do that?”

Her sobs slowed. “What is your name?”

“Nolan. I’ll call you when we find her.” He flipped the phone shut.

Z was already on his cell phone. “This is Zach. I need to know any credit card activity for a Kyler Stanton. Especially in the last day or so and especially in Florida. I’ll explain later, but I need it stat.” He listened, and then snapped, “I’ll wait.”

Nolan raised his eyebrows.

Z gave him a faint smile. “Give Dan a call. But my ex-military, old-boy system might be more efficient than the cops.”

Nolan paced across the apartment. Stopped and looked down at the blood stains. His gut twisted. “They’d better work fast.”

A brutal hand struck Beth’s face, and her eyes snapped open.

“Ha! I knew you were faking.” Kyler’s blue eyes gleamed. “You’ll pay for that, Elizabeth.”

Kyler. No nightmare. Her breathing increased so quickly that the world started to blur. Breathe, sugar. The memory of the deep voice anchored her. Nolan would never panic. She forced herself to inhale slowly and looked around.

She lay on a filthy mattress on the floor. Kyler stood over her, smirking, and the hate that blasted through her at the sight of him cleared her head. His nose was puffy, discolored, and she felt a rush of satisfaction. She’d hurt him. She tried to keep from showing her satisfaction. And failed.

“Yes, you bitch. You managed to hit me. Once.” Mouth thinned in a line, he slapped her again. She lifted her hands to fight back, only to see handcuffs on her wrists. The metal cuffs were hooked to a chain dangling from the cabin ridgepole. He’d cuffed her ankles together too. Terror burst inside her, and she screamed over and over until Kyler’s enjoyment registered. She stopped, her chest heaving, and closed her hands to hide the trembling.

“You don’t know how much I’ve missed hearing you, my dear.” He ran his hand over his groin. “Look at that. Already hard as a rock.” He paced across the room.

They were in a cabin, she realized. A tiny one-room cabin. Rain thundered against a metal roof. “Where are we?” she managed to ask, her tongue dry and thick.

“In the country where the only things listening will be the alligators and herons.”

“Someone will hear.” She didn’t sound convincing, even to herself. “There are hunters everywhere. You’ll get caught.”

He turned to show her a cheap pistol tucked into his slacks. “Don’t worry your pretty brain, my dear. I did take precautions. It’s amazing what a person can obtain with a little money. Buying a weapon in Florida is even easier than in California.”

Her heart sank.

“I never imagined you’d run so far.” He smiled, stroking himself through his tailored slacks. “I almost gave up on finding you. I tried going to prostitutes, but they didn’t excite me like you do, no matter what I did to them. I crippled one so badly I doubt she lived. She screamed, nice and high, but she wasn’t you.” His eyes held a weird light, a wrong light.

Beth’s stomach turned over. He was completely insane.

“I need you, Elizabeth. Just you.”

Her breath hitched as panic rose inside her. She’d told Nolan she was leaving. Her mother wouldn’t expect to hear from her right away, not for a day or so. The cabin was in the country with no one around. Oh, God. Don’t panic. Think. “Listen, Kyler,” she said. “You don’t want to hurt me right now. How will you get me back to California if I’m all bloody?”

His laugh escalated, going higher and higher until she cringed from the sound. “I chartered a private jet. I told them you were in a car accident, but you’re crying to go home to Mommy. I’ll dope you to the gills, stick you in a wheelchair, and roll you onboard. They’ll think I’m the best husband in the world, pampering my injured wife.”

His plan would work. Oh, God. She closed her eyes, breathed through her nose.

“So, since you’re awake, let’s get set up.”

She tensed. Time to fight. But rather than coming closer, Kyler walked across the cabin and picked up a chain. Dismay filled her. The chain, attached to her wrists, went through a massive eyebolt in the ridgepole, and Kyler had the other end. As he dragged on the chain, it lifted her up until she dangled from her arms, her feet on the mattress. The metal cuffs burned as they cut into her skin, tearing open old scars.

Kyler tied the chain in an elaborate knot to a hook buried in the wall and looked at her. “Look at that. Just where I’ve been imagining you all these months.” He faced her toward the wall.

She heard him rummaging in a bag. Her teeth clamped together at the snap of his whip.

“I was going to start slow and work up to the good stuff, but I just can’t wait.” The whip sliced across her shoulders, the sting lessened by her shirt. At first. Until the whip sliced the fabric to ribbons.

Then the real pain began.

Hoping the pounding rain would drown out the sound of the engine, Nolan didn’t slow as the truck tore down the dirt road, fishtailing through the curves, bouncing through the deep ruts. Z braced one hand on the dash and stayed silent. Finally the truck broke out of the forest into a small clearing that held a tiny, ramshackle cabin. A white Taurus with rental plates was parked in front. “Got you, you bastard,” Nolan muttered.

Not daring to get any closer, he left the truck at the edge of the clearing. “Take the back,” Nolan muttered to Z and headed for the front door.

Just as he reached the cabin, a high scream cut through the noise of the rain and sent rage searing like fire through his body. One kick took out the door, leaving it tilting from one hinge.

Beth hung from her cuffed hands, a bloody slice across her stomach, her eyes glassy with pain. Even as his fury increased, relief spread through him. Alive. She was alive. She saw him and blinked. Frowned. Her lips formed his name. Master.

Nolan turned his attention to the fair-haired bastard standing in the center of the room, a knife in his hand.

“This is a private party. Please leave.” The man sounded as if he’d been interrupted at a dinner function.

“Let her go,” Nolan said, circling. How good was the bastard with a knife?

“She’s my wife, and she’s going nowhere.” The man’s eyes narrowed. “You’re the one who walked her to her car at the club. The one who kissed her.”

Nolan could see white around the guy’s pupils. The fucker was seriously nuts, and he had a knife. But angry fighters make mistakes. Pissing him off would even the odds. “Yes, I kissed her”-Nolan curved his lips into a gloating smile-“and more. She’s one hot little woman.”

“You fucked my Elizabeth? Inside her?” A howl burst from the man, but rather than attacking, he backed up. Reaching behind him, the guy hauled out a pistol.

Fuck. Knowing he was dead, Nolan charged across the room.

“No!” Beth screamed. Dropping all her weight on her cuffed hands, she lifted her feet and kicked the bastard in the back.

The pistol fired, a sharp blast of sound and a crack as the bullet hit the wood floor. Nolan slapped the weapon out of the guy’s hand and punched him hard enough to feel ribs break.

The bastard landed on his back, holding his side, and wheezing. And laughing.

Pulling back his foot for a kick, Nolan hesitated. What was so funny?

“You can’t win, you know.” Tears were in the man’s eyes as he lay on his back, not even trying to rise. “I hear sirens.”

Nolan could too. He glanced outside. Not in sight.

Silently Z eased past the broken front door and headed for Beth. The place had no back door, Nolan realized. He looked down at the asshole. “The cops will lock you up for a long time,” he prompted, wanting to see where the guy was going with this.

“And I’ll be out soon enough. I’m a lawyer. Rich. I’ll destroy you, and I’ll have her in the end. And she’ll pay for letting you touch her.” A flash of rage crossed the man’s face. He sat up, holding his ribs. “You did this for nothing.”

Nolan studied him for a moment, his mouth tightening. The bastard was telling the truth. Kyler was crazy. He was rich. And he wasn’t going to stop. The bottom line was that Beth would never be safe.

Nolan glanced at Z and saw the same conclusion in his expression. Z nodded. Coldness slithered up Nolan’s spine as his mind opened the door to his past.

So be it.

Beth shook her head and roused again at the sound of sirens. She could feel blood trickling down her arms, her back, and her stomach, and yet the pain was absent. And Kyler had stopped. With an effort, she focused her eyes and saw a man trying to unfasten the chain from the hook in the wall. Master Z?

Another man stood in the room, towering over Kyler. Nolan. He really was here. This wasn’t a dream. She watched as Sir’s expression changed, cold replacing anger. When he stalked toward her ex, Beth shook her head. No, no, no. Don’t trust Kyler. No matter how big Sir was, he could still get badly hurt.

“I hardly did this for nothing,” Nolan said to Kyler with a sneer. “She has a pussy worth taking. Yeah. Honey sweet.”

With an ominous whine, her husband pushed to his feet, and Beth whimpered. Don’t hurt Nolan. She turned to Z over at the knotted chain. “Help him,” she whispered. “Please.”

Z’s silvery gaze met hers. He shook his head.

He wouldn’t help? What was wrong with him? She tried to yank free, and pain seared her wrists.

“You touched her.” Kyler’s mouth twisted. “She’s mine. My wife.”

“Hell, she doesn’t want to be married to a wussy like you. She wants a man.”

Beth screamed as Kyler launched himself across the room. At the last minute, Sir stepped out of the way, and Kyler staggered to a stop almost at the far right wall.

“You know how good she sucks cock?” Nolan chuckled, and Beth stared at him in shock. Was he insane?

Kyler attacked again and hit Nolan in the face.

Sir grinned. “One more please.” And took another fist against his cheek. He shook his head like a bull shaking off flies, before hitting Kyler, forcing him back a step. Kyler groaned and attacked again. Blocking a fist, Nolan punched Kyler in the ribs where he’d hit him before.

With a howl of agony, Kyler folded over. Beth saw Nolan inhale, his muscles bunching, and then he hit her husband squarely in the jaw so brutally that Kyler flew backward. The back of his head slammed into the wood stove with a gut-wrenching crack, and he dropped onto the brick hearth.

Beth heard a roaring in her ears as she stared at the man lying on the floor.

When Nolan bent over him, then turned away, she tried to warn him that Kyler would jump up and hurt him…to watch out, only she couldn’t seem to find any air.

The chain holding her jerked, and she moaned and tried to muffle the sound. Don’t wake him up; he’s just sleeping. Nolan came across the room to her, and she shook her head at him. No, watch Kyler. Watch him. Only Sir wasn’t listening.

As Z lowered her, Nolan held her steady and then lifted her into his arms. His arm hurt her back, and it didn’t really matter. She turned her head to watch Kyler. He would hurt Sir. She had to keep him from hurting Sir.

“Beth.” Master’s deep voice. “Look at me.” He turned so she couldn’t see Kyler.

She raised her head and met eyes so black and fierce, she cringed.

“Easy, sugar. It’ll be all right. The ambulance is almost here.”

She realized she was whimpering. Sir held her closer, his hard grip reassuring. This wasn’t a dream; he really was here. And she tried to tell him how she felt since he always wanted to know, but once she started, she couldn’t stop whispering one thing, over and over, “You came… You came… You came…”

He shook his head at her. “Shhh.” He tucked her head against his chest and with Z’s help shifted her so his arm didn’t rub the open areas on her back. Z searched the cabin for the handcuff key.

Had Kyler gotten up? She tried to look over Nolan’s shoulder, to watch for him. An ambulance appeared outside the broken door. Maybe they’d take her husband away, and Nolan would be safe.

Z appeared in front of her. “Hold on, little one. Let me get these off.” He unlocked the cuffs, carefully easing the metal out of her mangled flesh and swearing in a voice she’d never heard before.

When one place hurt too much and she whimpered, Nolan growled low and deep. He scowled at Z. “I want to kill him again.”

“Get in line.”

The world was a muddled place, filled with pain. Sirens. Men’s voices. The sharp smell of antiseptic. Rocking and bouncing that made everything hurt. Humid air. More pain.

When Beth finally managed to open her eyes, she was surrounded by white curtains. A familiar sight. She was in an emergency room. Left with strangers. She let herself fall back into darkness.

She roused again at the sound of a low, commanding voice, one that washed the loneliness away.

A woman’s voice raised in frustration. “I’m sorry, sir, but family only.”

“I am family.” Sir’s voice came closer. “Beth, which cubby are you in?”

“Um.” Did they have numbers for white-curtained rooms? “Here. Wherever that is.”

“But-” the woman sputtered. “Oh, fine. Obviously she wants you with her.”

A scarred hand pulled back the curtain, and Nolan entered, taking up all the extra room. His gaze took in the blood pressure monitor on her arm, the IV bag dripping fluids into her. “All the essential equipment, I see.”

She’d felt all alone and helpless, remembering how the paramedics had looked at her with pity. An abused woman covered with scars. No one saw her.

Until now. Sir leaned over the hospital gurney and looked into her eyes. “You want company, sugar?”

Her eyes brimmed with tears, and she could only nod.

“Good answer. You saved yourself a fight.” He leaned an arm on the side rail and picked up her hand, engulfing it within his long fingers. “Did they give you anything for pain?”

“I told them no.”

His brows drew together. “And why would that be? You’re hurting.”

“I… Kyler gave me something to knock me out. And pain medicine makes me fuzzy. I don’t… I can’t handle not being alert right now.”

He nodded. “Good enough.”

A doctor came through the curtains, a lean gray-haired man with sharp blue eyes, stethoscope around his neck, flipping through pages on a clipboard. “Mrs. Stanton?”

She cringed at the sound of that horrible name, and Nolan’s grip tightened. She took a breath. “Yes.”

He ran through the standard medical questions, ones she was all too familiar with from her frequent emergency room visits. If she’d been too badly hurt for Kyler to fix, he’d take her to the ER, different ones each time to prevent questions. When her scarring got too obvious, one doctor suspected abuse and tried to get her to a shelter. Kyler had pulled strings-his family knew everyone-and she’d not only been released to Kyler, but she’d been punished for arousing the doctor’s concern.

“All right then, let’s see the damage,” the doctor said now. He helped her sit up, opened her gown, and started peeling off the gauze dressings the medics had applied. She concentrated on staring at Nolan’s hand covering hers. He had a scar there on the knuckle and another on…

The doctor made a sound. Beth looked up. His lips were pressed so thin, they were white. “Who did this to you?”

“My husband,” she said.

The doctor’s gaze settled on Nolan. “You?”

“No. Her husband’s dead.”

The doctor looked at the bloody gauze in his gloved hands. “Sure he is. How long’s he been dead?”

The curtain whipped back. “About an hour.” A heavy man in a dark suit walked to the foot of the bed and flashed a police badge. “That about right, Mrs. Stanton?”

“I…” How long had she been out? “I don’t know,” she said, feeling helpless.

“You want to tell me about your day?” He pulled a notepad from his pocket.

“You want to wait until I sew her up?” the doctor snapped.

“Actually, I’d like to see the damage before you do that,” the cop said. “The guy at the cabin”-he glanced at his notes-“Zachary Grayson said the husband whipped her. Now that seems a little-”

The doctor not only stepped back but shoved the cop into his place where he could see her back. “Ah”-the cop cleared his throat-“hell. He sliced you up good, didn’t he?”

“Breathe, sugar,” Nolan rumbled, his watchful eyes on her.

She sucked in a breath.

“While you’re here,” Sir ordered the cop, “look at the older scars too. She ran from him a year ago. He found her again this morning.”

“Ma’am, I’m sorry,” the cop muttered. “I saw the chains and handcuffs, and I figured some kinky games, not… Jesus, I’ve never seen anything like this.” He stepped away from the bed, his ruddy face almost pale. He looked at her. “Anything else besides the whip marks?”

She swallowed. Why did she feel humiliated when it had been done to her? “There-”

“Scars around her wrists.” Nolan held up her hand where a bloody gauze dressing circled her wrist. “Those scars are pretty well wiped out by this new damage. Cigarette burns on her left breast, some knife scars on her bottom, old broken right leg, puncture wounds on her hands, and broken fingers.” He rubbed her fingers where shiny white spots marred her tan. “The doc here can probably document all that for you when he examines her.”

The cop’s face had gone rigid during the recital, but his eyes softened when he looked at her. “How many times did you try to get away?”

“Just once before last year.” She stared down at her hands. “That was when he smashed my fingers.”

The doctor sucked in a breath but didn’t speak.

A muscle twitched in the cop’s cheek as he looked down at his notepad. After a second, he asked, “So today, you have a cut-up back. Anything else?”

Nolan spoke for her again. “From today, she also has a slice across her stomach from a knife. That’s when Z-Zachary-and I got there and stopped him. I broke the door down. He had a gun, tried to shoot me, and although chained, she managed to kick him from behind.” Nolan gave her such an approving look that she warmed all the way through. “The bullet went into the floor. We fought.” He touched his cheek and chin from where Kyler had hit him. “I hit him, and he fell back against the wood stove.”

“How do you know Mrs. Stanton here?”

“She does yard service for Zachary. I was going to hire her for my place and ended up dating her instead.” He kissed her palm then gave her a merciless look. “But you’re still going to have to landscape the place, sugar.”

She actually managed to smile at him and touch his warm cheek, although her fingers trembled. “I think I owe you that now.”

“Looks like a pretty clear case of self-defense,” the cop said. “Give me your name and address and all that.”

Nolan took out his wallet and fished out a card.

The cop glanced at it. “King Construction? You built the office complex down the street from our station.”

Nolan nodded.

The cop studied Nolan for a minute. “You’re military too, aren’t you? Like your buddy, Zachary. A vet?”

Nolan nodded again.

“No wonder. Nice work,” the cop said. “And you didn’t hear me say that. I’ll be in contact if I have more questions.” He walked out, shaking his head.

“Questions. They always have questions, always need more evidence.” The doctor scowled and raised his voice. “Marilee, bring me the camera.”

The nurse popped in a second later.

“Stay here as a witness, Marilee,” he said. “Let’s go ahead and document this clearly, just in case there’s any question down the road.” The doctor’s face was grim. He snapped pictures of Beth’s back, then taped up the whip marks and sewed up the ones too deep to butterfly or glue shut. More pictures on her front, and he sewed up the slice across her stomach. His exam was thorough, and he took a picture of every scar, from her hands down to her leg.

Through it all, Nolan sat quietly, holding her hand, and murmuring when something hurt.

As the doctor wrapped her wrists with gauze, Master Z walked into the cubicle.

“What is this, Grand Central Station?” the doctor snapped. “Who the hell are you?”

Beth actually giggled. “It’s all right. He’s the other one who saved me.”

“Well, fine then,” the doctor grumbled. He shook hands with Z, then grinned and looked from him to Nolan. “Good job, guys, and I don’t care who hears me say it.”

Nolan barked a laugh.

“Now then, I’m releasing you. Come back here or see your doctor if there’s any sign of infection. I’ll give you a prescription for pain-”

“I don’t want one,” she interrupted. “I won’t take them.”

“Ah. All right.” He rubbed his chin. “Tylenol or ibuprofen. Avoid aspirin for a couple of days. The nurse will be in to get you unhooked from the IV and give you instructions about the stitches.”

Shooed out by the nurse, the men waited in the parking lot for her. When the nurse wheeled her out, they helped her into Nolan’s truck.

“Are you all right, little one?” Z asked as he took the seat belt from her and fastened it.

Her friend count had been a little low, she thought, but seemed to be rising rapidly. She smiled at him. “I’m very much all right. I feel like I’ve been caught in a blackberry tangle, and someone just cut me free.” Her eyes filled with tears as she whispered, “Thank you so much.”

He actually grinned. “No problem, although Nolan had all the fun. Now go home and work on healing.” He rubbed his knuckles over her cheek. “You can expect to see Jessica soon.”

As the truck started, he glanced at Nolan. “Are you taking her to her apartment or-”

“She’ll be at my house,” Nolan said flatly.

“Excellent.” Z nodded and closed her door.

“Nolan…” Beth started. He shouldn’t have to take care of her. “I can go to my-”

“Don’t bother to argue. We’re both going to have nightmares. You will be in my bed and in my arms when that happens.”

Nightmares. He was going to have nightmares? Oh, God, he’d killed a man for her. She took his hand. “You killed him. I’m sorry, so, so sorry.”

He looked at her blankly before snorting. “I don’t have nightmares from killing cockroaches, sugar. But knowing he had you…hearing you scream…seeing you all bloody? Now that’s going to bother me for a long time. And you’re going to have to stay with me till it doesn’t.”

“All right.” She couldn’t think of anywhere else she’d rather be. It seemed wrong to hope he’d have nightmares for at least three or four days, but-

He put the truck into gear. “I figure in a year or two, I might be okay.”