Page 21 of Biggest Regrets (Breaking Free #1)

E arly Saturday morning, Blake went downstairs to get the mail and came back up before Lily could even contemplate escaping.

“See?” the man said flatly, tossing a letter on her lap. It was another threat from her stalker. She gazed at the crudely cut out letters.

You don’t deserve her.

“That’s why I need you safe. I can’t have you running around out there. I can’t have you leave me. Nobody will keep you safe like I do,” Blake murmured, sinking down beside her on the couch. He had spoken the words in her hair, sending shivers of revolting nausea through her.

She nodded. She’d do anything to get him away from her.

“Can I have coffee?” she croaked.

“One cup,” he agreed.

When Blake’s cell phone rang an hour later, the man took the call in his office and Lily wondered if she could make the run to the front door before he got back. She couldn’t depend on one of the elevators being on her floor and sometimes it took a good ten minutes to reach her if people were using them.

“I’ve got to go out for an hour, but I’ll be right back. What do you want for lunch?”

“How about some Panda Express?” she answered immediately, calculating the time it would take Blake to drive there. “I’m hungry.”

“All right, I need your bank card,” he said.

Blake had his own card, but his didn’t have access to the money Lily’s had. She handed it over immediately. There was no way he could get more than a thousand dollars even though he knew her passcode.

Blake took the card with a smile and kissed her forehead. “I’ve given Robert a few more days off. I told him you were not feeling well.”

Robert was her driver when she used the town car to get back and forth between work and home. It saved her time with having to find parking in downtown Seattle. That could be a nightmare.

Robert also worked for her grandfather. And she worried that Robert might tell Jethro that she wasn’t feeling well. Jethro was just the type to come over to see for himself.

“Okay,” she said, and she wondered if her grandfather had already called her phone. Of course, Blake wouldn’t answer it.

“I’m going to take your keys and your phone with me, so stay put.”

I’m a hostage, she thought.

A prisoner in my own home.

Locked inside with a madman.

“I’m not going anywhere,” she assured him and turned the TV to the Hallmark channel.

Blake studied her for a long time before he left the apartment.

Lily gave him a good ten minutes to get gone. It would take him seven minutes to get to Panda Express and that was after stopping at the ATM.

She calculated she had about twenty minutes tops to get the fuck out.

Even though her ribs hurt like hell, she raced into the bedroom. Cradling her wrist, she struggled to change clothes. She one-handedly pulled on a pair of black sweats and a gray hooded sweatshirt and placed her favorite sneakers on her feet. She couldn’t tie them, so she tucked the laces inside.

Tossing a few things into a fashion backpack, she dumped the contents of her purse into the same bag.

Strapping the pack over her shoulders, she was thankful her hair was already in a ponytail.

All of that had taken her six minutes.

Lily did not look back as she walked out the door.

The outside air hit Lily’s heated cheeks and she sucked in several grateful breaths.

Sixteen minutes into a twenty-minute time span. She had used up too much time getting changed so she’d need to think quickly.

Keeping her head down, Lily turned down 5 th Street, cradling her right arm close. The pain in her wrist had traveled up her forearm and now the whole darn thing was throbbing with every step she took.

She didn’t glance around, partly because she was moving as fast as she could and watching where she walked, but mostly because she didn’t want to look up and suddenly see Blake.

Which was stupid because if she did see him, she could run and hide.

She had seen this coming. She had seen the signs of his controlling nature, but she had refused to face it.

It reminded her of that old saying her grandfather always said.

“Don’t bury your head in the sand.” Jethro had often told her. “Your problems will still be there when you pull it back out.”

She had laughed at his analogy back then, but thinking of him now only made her tears fall.

Scared people don’t think clearly, she reminded herself and dashed at her cheeks with her left hand.

Her physical condition slowed her down, and when she turned down Blanchard St. she stuck as close to the buildings as possible.

It was the Saturday before Thanksgiving and the city along with its occupants had begun decorating for the holiday. It wasn’t anything like Christmas would be, but they did try to be as festive as possible.

The cold suddenly bit into her back and arms and she wished she’d grabbed her heavier coat, but her only thought at the time had been to travel light. Tugging up the hood on her sweatshirt, she put her head down and kept walking.

Somehow, she had to get to Sara’s house. Blake didn’t know where Sara lived. Sara’s was a safe place.

Blake had her phone and bank card, but Lily had her credit card. Fat lot of good that did without a phone. If she could find a phone store, then she could buy a new one.

It might be quicker to ask someone to use their phone, she reasoned.

The only problem was that people were not outside in this weather. And she didn’t know one freaking phone number by heart. So how was she going to call?

She remembered her mom telling her one time that they used to have a 411 number people could call to get a phone number, but that phased out in 2021 and totally went away in 2023.

The tears came when she thought of her mom. Even after fourteen years, she still missed her very much. She didn’t bother to dash the tears away. What she was tempted to do, however, was sit down and rest, but she feared she wouldn’t be able to get back up.

Lily kept walking.

She knew without a doubt that if her mother were there, she would tell her to keep going.

If she approached someone, they might help her. But her stomach knotted at the thought of walking up to a stranger.

She knew her face was shocking and she had deliberately avoided looking at herself while getting dressed. The one eye that had swollen shut on Monday had gone down. So at least she could see.

The bruises were pretty gnarly now, but it would do her no good to worry about her looks right now. She had bigger more pressing things to stress about than vanity.

Number one was to stay under the radar so Blake couldn’t find her.

Then she would call the police.

But what if the police called her husband?

Did they do that kind of thing?

Would they do that kind of thing?

She wished she had memorized at least one of her friends’ phone numbers.

The sudden desire to quit and sink to the ground overwhelmed her, but she kept going.

Screw that! She wasn’t a quitter.

Gray overcast lay thick in the sky and rain was on the horizon as thunder rumbled in the distance.

She gazed up as the first fat drops fell.

“Great, that’s it. Shit on me while I’m already down,” she muttered to the universe and stepped beneath an overhang outside of a shop.

It was definitely a crappy day all around. Blake had suggested celebrating getting a turkey for the upcoming Thanksgiving day, but Lily had felt too sick to respond to him. Eventually, Blake had given up and ordered a few chickens to be delivered with groceries.

Her skin crawled just thinking about him.

The rain slammed down on the streets and water shot down the asphalt and into storm drains.

She shook herself. She needed to move. She could do this. It was a nine-minute walk from Skye at Belltown to the Space Needle. During the summer, she had taken the route several times to get in her steps.

Now she was taking the long way around and not her usual path.

Should she even go to the Space Needle?

Would Blake check there first?

She was still on Blanchard. There were a number of shops, cafes, and businesses she could seek refuge.

People in Seattle were nice, surely someone would help her? Or she’d just freak them out.

She stepped out from beneath the overhang and picked up her pace, hurrying down the sidewalk.

There was nothing she could do to get out of the open at this moment and her sweatshirt grew soaked.

She quickly glanced around, making sure it was safe, and all she could do was hope like hell Blake didn’t come across her on his way home.

Would Blake even drive this way?

Shit, she panicked for a moment before reason crept back in.

No, he wouldn’t come this way. Blanchard was the opposite way from Panda Express and the bank.

It suddenly dawned on her that Blake had more than likely arrived home and found her gone by now. He was probably out searching for her. The man could very well be driving around their neighborhood.

She came upon a cafe on the corner and pulled open the door to step inside out of the cold.

“Welcome to—” The young teenage hostess, wearing a pink blouse stood stunned. “Can I help you?”

Thankfully, Lily and the hostess were the only two in the front this early in the morning. Lily glanced at her watch. Well, not so early, it was around mid-morning, she thought blankly.

“Yes, I…” Lily glanced up and pushed the hood the rest of the way off her head with her left hand.

“Oh my god.” Ms. Pink shirt whispered. “Are you okay?”

“I’m really not. Can you do me a favor and call someone for me?”

“Sure.” Ms. Pink shirt came around the wooden stand where a waiting list rested along with a pen. “Let me sit you in a back table out of the way.”

Lily got a look at the young girl’s name tag.

“Thank you, Cindi.”

“No problem. I’ll call the police.”

“Not yet. Can you call my bodyguard? Just Google Deckman Defense and Security and ask for Max Deckman.”

It was Saturday and she hoped to God that Max was in the office.

Lily shakily sank into a chair at a table with her back to the room. So far, other customers had not noticed and she wanted to keep it that way. “And I’ll have a cup of coffee with heavy cream if it’s not too much trouble.”

“You got it, hon.” Cindi gestured to a tall man in his thirties who came over wearing a name tag that said Jason.

“She needs help and I’m making a call for her, but she’d like a cup of coffee with heavy cream,” Cindi said and then did her Google search.

“Oh man,” Jason said. His face showed shock once he got a look at Lily. “Are you okay, miss?”

Lily nodded.

“Get the coffee. I’m making a call to her bodyguard,” Cindi told Jason.

When the results of her search came up, Cindi showed Lily the phone.

“That’s it,” Lily whispered.

The girl hit the call button on the screen and the phone rang. Cindi didn’t have it on speaker, but she did hold the phone close enough for Lily to listen.

The man who answered was not Max and Lily pressed her left hand to her lips…

Trying like hell not to break down and cry.